Tashkent, Uzbekistan (UzDaily.com) – About 150,000 doses of the AstraZeneca vaccine have been sent to Uzbekistan from Austria to combat COVID-19, the Dunyo news agency reported.

According to the Permanent Mission of Uzbekistan to the OSCE and other international organizations in Vienna, the vaccines were provided by the Austrian government as gratuitous aid and as a sign of strong friendship.

Uzbekistan’s ambassador to Vienna Abat Fayzullayev, together with representatives of the Austrian Ministry of Foreign Affairs, took part in the ceremony of sending humanitarian cargo to Tashkent.

The agreement on the provision of humanitarian aid was reached during the visit of the Minister for European and Foreign Affairs of Austria Michael Linhart to Uzbekistan, which took place on 7-8 November. During the visit, the head of the Austrian Foreign Ministry met with the heads of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs and the Ministry of Investment and Foreign Trade of Uzbekistan.

Michael Linhart stressed that Uzbekistan is a very important partner of Austria in the Central Asian region. He also thanked Uzbekistan for its assistance in evacuating Austrian citizens from Afghanistan. “It was a strong sign of friendship,” - Austrian diplomat.