London, July 28 (CNA) A donation of 20,000 doses of AstraZeneca COVID-19 vaccines from Lithuania is scheduled to arrive in Taiwan on July 31, Taiwan's representative office in Latvia said Wednesday.

According to the Taipei Mission in the Republic of Latvia, which is also responsible for promoting relations with Lithuania, the full shipment of vaccines was already at Vilnius Airport on Wednesday, awaiting transport to Taiwan.

Taiwan's representative to Latvia Eric Huang and Matas Maldeikis, chairman of the Lithuanian Parliamentary Group for Relations with Taiwan, went to the airport Wednesday to make sure that all would go well with the shipment, the Taipei Mission said.

When Lithuania on June 22 pledged the donation, it said the 20,000 doses of AstraZeneca would be delivered by late September.

At the time, the donation was announced by Lithuania Foreign Minister Gabrielius Landsbergis via Twitter.

"I am proud that we can, albeit in a small way, show solidarity with the Taiwanese people in combating the COVID-19," he tweeted. "Freedom-loving people should look out for each other!"

Lithuanian Prime Minister Ingrida Simonyte was also cited in the media there as saying that the Baltic country would like to do more, "but we do what we can."

Since Lithuania's new government took office in December 2020, it has been carrying out a "values-based foreign policy" to promote relations with Taiwan.

In March, the country announced a proposal for the establishment of a trade office in Taiwan.

On July 20, Taiwan said it planned to open a representative office in Lithuania to expand relations with the Baltic state and other Central European countries.

Following Taiwan's announcement, Lithuania reciprocated the same day by confirming that it planned to set up a trade office in Taipei in fall this year.

Meanwhile, there was a surge in monetary donations from Taiwanese to charity groups in Lithuania after it pledged the donation of 20,000 AstraZeneca vaccines to Taiwan.