New Delhi [India], January 18 : India on Saturday sent humanitarian assistance to the central African nation of Sao Tome & Principe, reaffirming its commitment to the global south.
According to the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, the assistance comprises medical supplies, including lifesaving, essential medicines like insulin and blood glucose monitors and strips, human albumin, and ORS.
"India reaffirms its commitment to the Global South. Humanitarian assistance of medical supplies comprising life-saving & essential medicines including insulin, blood glucose monitors & strips, human albumin, ORS, etc has been dispatched to Sao Tome & Principe. This assistance will help strengthen the public health services of Sao Tome & Principe," the MEA stated on X.
Earlier in 2019, India gifted 150 computers to the Central African nation towards the IT upgrade of the ministries and secondary schools.
A donation of medicines worth Euro 95,000 (approx. USD 111,150) from the Government of India was also handed over to the Sao Tome Health Minister, Edgar Neves, in 2021.
A donation of life-saving drugs as well as generic medicines to the tune of USD 25,000 was handed over to Sao Tome in June 2023 as per their requirement.
India and Sao Tome and Principe have enjoyed warm and friendly relations since their independence in 1975. Leaders of both countries have been meeting on the sidelines of some of the international fora, such as the UN, NAM, etc. Dr. Carlos Alberto Pires Tiny, Minister of Foreign Affairs, Cooperation & Communities, visited India from November 29 to December 2, 2009. This was the first high-level visit on either side since the island nation got its independence from Portugal in 1975.
Recognising the pioneering role played by India in promoting South-South Cooperation and its significant contribution to international peacekeeping, Sao Tome and Principe announced its support for India to become a Permanent Member of an expanded UN Security Council. It also assured India of its support for a Non-Permanent seat for the term 2011-2012.
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