Vucic: Production of Sputnik vaccine in Serbia to start by the end of the year

Photo: Telegraf.rs

Serbia will invest as much as necessary in starting domestic production of the Russian vaccine Sputnik by the end of the year, President of Serbia Aleksandar Vucic said today.

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He told Reuters that he and Russian President Vladimir Putin reached initial agreement about starting the production procedure, which he described as "complicated and difficult."

A group of Russian experts should visit Serbia next week to discuss the start of production of the Sputnik vaccine by the end of the year.

Reuters said that Serbia, with more than 530,000 vaccinated people, or 7.5 percent of the population, ranks fourth in the world in the number of vaccinations per 100 inhabitants, behind Israel, Great Britain and the United States.

Popovic: Everything is ready for the arrival of Russian experts

Everything is ready for the arrival of Russian experts in Serbia, we expect that Serbia will produce the Sputnik V vaccine in its territory in the future, Minister of Innovation Nenad Popovic said after a meeting he held in Moscow with Russian Minister of Industry and Trade Denis Manturov.

The meeting between Popovic and Manturov was scheduled under urgent procedure, immediately after the telephone conversation between presidents Vucic and Putin, during which the two leaders confirmed the highest level of cooperation between the two countries.

Photo: Government Press Office

"Immediately after the talks between presidents Vucic and Putin, on the order of our president, my team and I flew to Moscow to hold preparatory meetings with the Russian side before their visit to Serbia. Minister Manturov expressed his full commitment to this process and pointed out that Serbia is a priority for the Russian Federation when it comes to joint production of vaccines, but also when it comes to continued deliveries of vaccines to Serbia," said Popovic.

He stressed that the Russian delegation will be led by representatives of the Ministry of Industry and Trade of Russia, and will consist of leading technologists from the famous Gamaleya Institute, representatives of the Russian authorities responsible for vaccine authorization, as well as leaders of the Russian Direct Investment Fund, one of Russia's key vaccine production and distribution institutions.

"The task of this delegation is to determine how quickly and to what extent we can start production of the Russian vaccine at Torlak (institute). The composition of the Russian delegation shows that Russia is very interested in helping Serbia establish capacities for the production of vaccines as soon as possible. One of the members of the Russian delegation will be one of the main technologists who developed the Sputnik V vaccine and who trained all Russian manufacturers on how to produce this vaccine," said Popovic.

After the meeting between Popovic and Manturov, another meeting was held, between operational teams whose task is to prepare the visit of Russian experts to Serbia.

(Telegraf.rs)