Taiwan, Turkey institutes discuss joint efforts to combat COVID-19

ROC Central News Agency

04/11/2020 07:23 PM

Taipei, April 11 (CNA) Taiwan's Academia Sinica said Saturday that it has been in discussions with researchers from Turkey on possible collaborative efforts to fight the COVID-19 coronavirus pandemic.

In a Facebook post, Academia Sinica said its president James Liao (廖俊智) held a meeting Friday via video conferencing with Hasan Mandal, president of the Scientific and Technological Research Council of Turkey (TUBITAK), and members of his research team to talk about various issues pertaining to the COVID-19 pandemic.

The discussion included research and development of coronavirus drugs, rapid screening kits, and vaccines, the post said, citing Liao.

Liao also expressed the hope of maintaining close contact with the Turkish institute through joint efforts to combat the disease, according to the post.

TUBITAK, a Turkish national research agency founded in 1963, had more than 2,500 researchers and is a member of the European Science Foundation and the European Union's Framework Programmes for Research and Technological Development.

The talks with TUBITAK on Friday followed similar discussions recently between Taiwan's top research institute and its counterparts in the United States, the European Union, the Czech Republic and Canada.

(By Wu Hsin-yun and Ko Lin)

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