Covid-19: South Korea to give Bangladesh test kits worth $800k

South Korea has pledged to provide $800,000 worth of test kits to help curb the further spread of coronavirus in Bangladesh.

South Korean Ambassador to Bangladesh, Lee Jang-keun, made the pledge during a courtesy call today with Foreign Minister A K Abdul Momen. Separately, he also called State Minister for Foreign Affairs Shahriar Alam and Foreign Secretary Masud Bin Momen, said a statement of the Korean embassy in Bangladesh.

Lee expressed strong support for Bangladesh in the fight against Covid-19. Through Korean International Cooperation Agency (KOICA), South Korea's aid agency, the country has provided PPEs to nurses at the National Institute of Advanced Nursing Education and Research and emergency food to vulnerable residents in Mugda last month.

KOICA is also planning to donate PCR test kits and walk-through booths to the Ministry of Health in the coming weeks.

Ambassador Lee emphasised his firm commitment to closer bilateral ties between Korea and Bangladesh, building up on the historic visit by Prime Minister Lee Nak-yon to Bangladesh in July 2019, which marked the first visit by a South Korean prime minister to Bangladesh in 17 years.

Ambassador Lee said it is imperative that the two countries work closely on follow-up measures to deepen and expand the relationship in a variety of areas, including the rescheduling of the vice minister-level policy consultation meeting postponed earlier this year.

He said the mutually beneficial relationship is evident in the areas of investment and remittance in particular, adding that South Korea ranks 6th in terms of accumulated FDI in Bangladesh with $1.1 billion and 12th in wage remittances by Bangladeshi expatriate workers.

The volume of bilateral trade reached around 1.7 billion US dollars last year and around 150 Korean companies are now investing in Bangladesh.