CAIRO - China has handed over a new batch of COVID-19 vaccines to Egypt as part of the deepening cooperation in fighting the pandemic.

A hand-over ceremony held on Wednesday was attended by Chinese Ambassador to Egypt Liao Liqiang and Egyptian Higher Education Minister Khaled Abdel-Ghaffar, who is also temporarily in charge of the Egyptian Health Ministry.

The Sinovac vaccines, which arrived at the Cairo International Airport on Nov 1, were provided by the Chinese government to Egypt as part of China's pledge to make the vaccines a global public good to help all countries.

Liao said that China has so far donated four batches of COVID-19 vaccines to Egypt and also localized the production of the Sinovac vaccines in Egypt, which fully demonstrates the solidarity of the two countries in fighting the pandemic, as well as the depth of the bilateral strategic partnership.

The Egyptian state-owned vaccine maker VACSERA and Chinese biopharmaceutical company Sinovac signed two agreements in April to jointly manufacture Sinovac vaccines in VACSERA's factory in the North African country.

Abdel-Ghaffar lauded China's great help and aid provided to Egypt in its fight against the pandemic, Egypt's Health Ministry said in a statement on Wednesday. 

He also highlighted "the depth and strength of the relations between Egypt and China through various fields of cooperation extending for many years".

"Egypt is looking forward to continuing cooperation in the fight against the coronavirus pandemic," the Egyptian minister added.