Coronavirus response: Spain delivers critical medical aid to Iraq
On Sunday 26 July 2020, in response to a request for COVID-19 relief aid from Iraq to NATO’s Euro-Atlantic Disaster Response Coordination Centre (EADRCC), Spain handed over critical medical supplies to Iraqi authorities. The donation by the Spanish Ministry of Defence was handed over to the Director of the Prime Minister´s National Operations Centre Major General Mohamed Al Shimary, by the Deputy Head of Mission of the Spanish Embassy Mariana Figueroa Sánchez, during a small ceremony at Baghdad International Airport.
The aid consignment consisted of essential medical equipment, including oxygen masks, personal protective gloves, protective gowns and N95 face masks, as well as disinfectants, sprayer pumps and medicines. In conjunction with NATO Mission Iraq, the Spanish Embassy in Iraq and the Spanish Defence Ministry coordinated the delivery of the items to Iraq using a commercial aircraft.
The EADRCC is NATO’s main civil emergency response mechanism. The Centre operates on a 24/7 basis, coordinating requests and offers of assistance. Since the start of the COVID 19 pandemic, the EADRCC has coordinated requests from the United Nations Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA) and 16 NATO and partner countries, resulting in dozens of offers of assistance.
NATO Mission Iraq was established in Iraq on 1 November 2018 at the invitation of the Government of the Republic of Iraq, and is committed to the country’s sovereignty and territorial integrity. It is a non-combat advisory, training and capacity-building mission and contributes to building security and stability by helping Iraq’s Armed Forces to become self-sustaining and ever more effective in its defeat of terrorism.
