On 16 October 2020, the Ministry of Foreign Affairs received 1 million surgical masks from Charoen Pokphand Group Co., Ltd., represented by Dr. Netithorn Praditsarn, Executive Assistant to CEO and Senior Vice President, Global Partnership for Sustainability and Communications, to hand over to the Government of Myanmar, on behalf of the Royal Thai Government. Deputy Permanent Secretary Chutintorn Gongsakdi represented the Ministry at the ceremony.

To strengthen their preparedness and rapid response to COVID-19 with a view to contributing to Myanmar’s efforts to prevent and mitigate the effect from the pandemic, the Ministry of Foreign Affairs has been rendering continuous support to the Government of the Republic of the Union of Myanmar, including financial support and the cooperation with Thailand’s Public-Private Partnership (PPP) such as Charoen Pokphand Group Co., Ltd. to support 1,000,000 surgical masks. In the said activity, Mr. Chutintorn Gongsakdi, Deputy Permanent Secretary and Acting Permanent Secretary of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, extended appreciation for the CP Group’s generosity as well as emphasised the importance of supporting each other through these difficult times.

The Ministry of Foreign Affairs also collaborated with the Ministry of Public Health and related agencies to provide the Government of Myanmar with other necessities, namely (1) Personal Protective Equipment (PPE) for laboratory use and patient care, RT-PCR Machines, Mobile Laboratory Units and Negative/Positive Pressure Isolation Rooms and (2) capacity-building activities for Myanmar’s medical personnel to be able to treat COVID-19 patients under various medical conditions through the setting up of ‘Real-Time Medical Consultation.’ This will help improve the efficiency of medical treatments for patients and subsequently decrease mortality rate in Myanmar.