Press Release – Belmopan, August 26. 2020 – During a ceremony held today at the Secretariat of Foreign Affairs (SRE), Mexican Minister of Foreign Affairs Marcelo Ebrard Casaubon announced the donation of ventilators manufactured in Mexico to eight Caribbean countries: Antigua and Barbuda, Belize, Dominican Republic, Guyana, Haiti, Saint Lucia, Suriname, and Trinidad and Tobago. Ebrard Casaubon reflected on how, in a few months, Mexico went from lacking ventilators to attend to COVID-19 patients, to producing its on supply of ventilators. This gave Mexico the opportunity to stand in solidarity with nations that are where Mexico once stood.
With the virtual presence of authorities from Caribbean countries, including Minister of Foreign Affairs of Belize, Hon. Wilfred Elrington, the Mexican Foreign Minister recalled that, upon the arrival of the pandemic to Mexico, President Andrés Manuel López Obrador instructed the SRE to import ventilators and supplies needed to overcome the shortage.
In addition to complying with that instruction, the SRE participated in the effort to develop and produce a national ventilator. This was made possible through developments by the biomedical engineering team of the National Institute of Nutrition, with the support of a group of Mexican companies, including FEMSA, Bocar and Metalsa, among others.
Ebrard highlighted the manufacturing of the ventilator, which was initially conceived last April 3rd, as a milestone that demonstrates what Mexicans are capable of.
Secretary Ebrard said that, in regard to the development of a COVID-19 vaccine, the SRE will follow the same strategy as it did with the ventilators, guaranteeing access to international markets and participating in initiatives to promote the development of a national antidote.
For his part, the president of the National Conference of Governors, Juan Manuel Carrera López, recognized the effort of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs and the Government of Mexico to face this challenge and to recover one of the best traditions of Mexican foreign policy, which is solidarity, in this case with the sister nations of the Caribbean.
Also, AMEXCID’s Executive Director, Laura Elena Carrillo Cubillas, announced that technical training will be provided to Caribbean countries for the use and installation of these ventilators.
The purpose is that, once the corresponding technical requirements are met, the ventilators will be sent to the referred Caribbean nations, taking into account that, as it is manufactured in Mexico, more can be supplied according to the demand.
Click Here for More News on Ambergris Today Online
