Maldives, Afghanistan pledge $1.2 m for SAARC Covid Emergency Fund

Male/Kabul, March 21

Afghanistan and the Maldives on Saturday pledged to contribute USD 1.2 million to the SAARC Corona Emergency Fund proposed by PM Narendra Modi with an initial offer of USD 10 million from India to help combat the fast-spreading Covid-19 pandemic in the region.

Spokesperson for the President of Afghanistan Sediq Sediqqi said the Afghan Government believed in joint collaboration and strengthening partnership to fight the rapidly spreading coronavirus pandemic. Earlier, while thanking PM Narendra Modi for creating the emergency and relief fund, Maldives Foreign Minister Abdulla Shahid said the country would join the initiative to tackle the challenges posed by the pandemic.

“We welcome PM @narendramodi’s initiative to create an Covid-19 Emergency Relief Fund and its pledge of USD 10 million. The Government of Maldives joins the initiative and pledges USD 200,000 to address issues emanating from Covid-19,” Shahid said in a tweet.

Nepal and Bhutan on Friday pledged nearly USD 1 million and USD 100,000 respectively to the SAARC Corona Emergency Fund. Modi later took to Twitter to thank leaders of the two countries for their contribution. During a video-conference on forming a joint strategy to fight Covid-19 in SAARC region, PM Modi had on March 15 proposed the emergency fund with an initial offer of USD 10 million from India and asserted that the best way to deal with the pandemic was by coming together.

The statement said the video conference initiated by Modi “created a platform for the leaders to share experiences on combating the pandemic and to chart out a collective strategy to combat the threat.” — PTI