“So far, 25 ventilators have been provided through funds from the Embassy of Norway, through the UN Agency, which are currently in a depot in Turkey while a solution is found for their transport,” Osmani said.
He added that 30 more ventilators have been provided from China through EU funds – using the initial EUR 4 million from the EU Delegation. They will be purchased through the UNDP and their transport to Skopje is being arranged.
Osmani pointed out that China has positively responded to North Macedonia’s request for ventilators, but couldn’t give the exact quantity to be received as a number of other countries were currently making the same request.
In addition, he said, the Chinese Embassy has directed funds to the purchase of equipment for fighting the pandemic.
The Deputy PM has informed about EU support to Macedonia in the fight against coronavirus between EUR 65 million and EUR 70 million – 4 million for procurement of ventilators from China, EUR 50 million initially planned to be allocated for infrastructure and environment, to be redirected to help social and economic recovery in the aftermath of the crisis, EUR 9 million as support to small and medium-sized companies and EUR 3 million for direct budget support.
