Xi’an's International Assistance to Montgomery County, U.S.A

During the outbreak of the COVID-19 pandemic in the United States, Xi’an donated 20,000 disposable medical masks to our sister city, Montgomery County with permission from the Ministry of Foreign Affairs. Recently, the Montgomery County Media issued this press release on theirlocal government’s official website, and stated “The personal protective equipment donated from our sister city Xi’an is critical to the Montgomery County in fighting against the epidemic, which isessential in reducing the chances of a second wave of infections.”

“This generous donation from our Sister City Xi’an reinforces the importance of diplomacy and international cooperation during these challenging times. These masks will help mitigate the spread of COVID-19 in our community and protect our most vulnerable residents. I want to thank our friends in Xi’an for reaching out to offer this donation to us,” said the County Executive Marc Elrich.

Montgomery County is the largest and most populous jurisdiction in Maryland，U.S.A, which locates adjacent to the capital, Washington, D.C., it covers an area of 1313 square kilometers. Xi’an established sister-cityrelationship with the Montgomery County on September 4th, 2014.

According to reports, the Department of General Services has received the masks and this batch of medical material has been catalogedfor distributionand will be used to the front line containment work. A virus without borders and a friend in need is a friend indeed. Xi’an wishesto continue work together with other sister cities, which includes Montgomery County in fighting against this pandemic, tostrengthen the cooperation, facing the new challenges,as well as jointly safeguard the health and well-being of the world's people and global public health security.