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world news Diamars 13 aPriL 2021

Russia’s FM in Egypt for talks on ties and Ethiopia’s dam

(AP) — The foreign min- A statement by el-Sissi’s of-
isters of Egypt and Rus- fice said the Egyptian presi-
sia discussed trade and dent and Lavrov discussed
other ties between the “military and security” ties
two nations Monday, with without providing details.
Egypt’s top diplomat urg- El-Sissi and Russian Presi-
ing Moscow to help settle dent Vladimir Putin signed a
Egypt’s dispute with Ethi- partnership and strategic co-
opia over a massive dam operation treaty in 2018, a
project. document the Egyptian lead-
er said should “open a new
Russian Foreign Minister chapter in the history of our
Sergey Lavrov arrived in cooperation.”
Cairo on Sunday for a two-
day visit. He met Monday The two leaders have devel-
with President Abdel Fattah oped a close personal rapport,
el-Sissi before his talks with and have sought to expand
Foreign Minister Sameh bilateral ties, which have
Shukry. strengthened considerably in
In a joint news conference the past few years.
with Shukry, Lavrov said they Cairo’s relations with the
discussed the implementa- U.S. suffered a blow in 2013
tion of joint mega projects. when the Obama adminis-
They included a four-reactor tration criticized the military
power plant that a Russian the Nile River’s main tribu- Ethiopia, but has supported downed a Russian airliner overthrow of Egypt’s first
firm is building in Egypt and tary, which Egypt and Sudan an African Union-led settle- over Egypt’s Sinai Penin- freely elected leader amid
a Russian industrial zone. deem a major threat if it is ment to the yearslong dis- sula in 2015, killing all 224 mass protests against his rule.
Russian companies are ex- filled and operated without a pute. people on board. Egypt has In 2017, Egypt and Russia
pected to invest up to $7 bil- legally binding agreement. The Russian minister did since spent millions of dol- struck deals that allowed Cai-
lion in building industrial “We also rely on Russia ... to not address when Moscow lars to upgrade security at its ro to buy billions of dollars’
plants in the Suez Canal area. push parties to refrain from would resume direct flights airports and undergone nu- worth of Russian weapons,
The two ministers said they unilateral actions,” Shukry to Egypt’s Red Sea resorts. merous checks by Russian including fighter jets and as-
also discussed regional con- said, referring to Ethiopia’s However, he told Egypt’s experts. sault helicopters. They also
flicts in Libya, Syria and plans to start a second crucial state-run Ahram daily in an The suspension of Russian signed a dead to have a Rus-
the Israeli-Palestinian cause stage of the dam’s filling dur- interview published Monday flights dealt a devastating sian company build a nuclear
along with political stalemate ing this year’s rainy season. that he expected the flights blow to Egypt’s vital tourism reactor after Cairo agreed in
in Lebanon. Lavrov said Russia was not would be resumed “soon.” industry, which had already principle to borrow $25 bil-
They discussed a massive invited to engage in the talks Flights were suspended been badly hit by the turmoil lion, or roughly 80% of the
dam Ethiopia is building on between Egypt, Sudan and when the Islamic State group following a 2011 uprising. reactor’s cost, from Russia.

Indonesia satisfied with effectiveness of Chinese vaccine

(AP) — Indonesia said Those comments appeared to one-shot vaccine from Can- shown to be about 95% ef- would be useful, and many
Monday that it is satisfied running counter to China’s Sino, and the last from Gao’s fective in protecting against governments have been ea-
with the effectiveness of official narrative that has tried team in partnership with An- COVID-19 in studies. ger to use Chinese vaccines
the Sinovac coronavirus to promote the country’s vac- hui Zhifei Longcom. As of April 2, some 34 mil- as rich countries around the
vaccine it is using, after cines and at times discredit its The effectiveness of the vac- lion people in China have world have snapped up shots
the acknowledgement by Western counterparts. cines range from just over received the full two doses of from Pfizer and Moderna.
China’s top disease con- China has distributed hun- 50% to 79%, based on what Chinese vaccines and about China’s Foreign Minister
trol official that current dreds of millions of doses of the companies have said. 65 million received one, ac- Wang Yi on Monday said that
vaccines offer low protec- domestically made vaccines Pfizer and Moderna’s vac- cording to Gao. Beijing will continue to pro-
tion against the virus. abroad and is relying on them cines, which are primar- Globally, public health ex- vide COVID-19 vaccines ur-
for its own mass immuniza- ily being used in developed perts have said that any vac- gently needed by developing
Siti Nadia Tarmizi, a spokes- tion campaign. countries, have both been cine that is 50% effective countries.
person for Indonesia’s COV- Tarmizi said Indonesia would
ID-19 vaccine program, said wait to see the results of any
the World Health Organiza- clinical trials before consider-
tion had found the Chinese ing mixing vaccines.
vaccines had met require- “We are going to wait, wait-
ments by being more than ing for the clinical trial to
50% effective. She noted that ensure the idea or innovation
clinical trials for the Sinovac will have better effectiveness,
vaccine in Indonesia showed immunogenicity, and efficacy
it was 65% effective. level compared to the current
“It means we are talking condition,” she said.
about the ability to form an- Experts say mixing vaccines,
tibodies in our bodies is still or sequential immunization,
very good,” she said. might boost effectiveness.
Gao Fu, the head of the Researchers in Britain are
Chinese Center for Disease studying a possible combina-
Control and Prevention, said tion of the Pfizer and the As-
at a conference Saturday that traZeneca vaccines.
existing COVID-19 vaccines China currently has five vac-
had low effectiveness rates cines in use in its mass immu-
and mixing vaccines is among nization campaign, three in-
strategies being considered activated-virus vaccines from
to boost their effectiveness. Sinovac and Sinopharm, a