BEIRUT, May 31. /TASS/. Lebanon’s interim Minister of Industry Imad Hoballah announced on Monday the upcoming signing of an agreement with the Russian Direct Investment Fund (RDIF) on the production of the Russian Sputnik V vaccine. The production of the Russian jab will be set up by Arwan Pharmaceutical Industries, he told a press conference at Baabda Palace following a meeting with Lebanese President Michel Aoun.

"We expect the agreement with the Russian side to be signed by mid-June," the official noted, emphasizing that the head of state "strongly supports this project."

Executive director of Arwan Pharmaceutical Industries Ruwayda Dham noted in a conversation with a TASS correspondent that the Lebanese entrepreneurs contacted the RDIF in March with a proposal to consider the possible production of the Sputnik V vaccine in Lebanon. "We sent the necessary technical paperwork, and we are expecting the arrival of experts from the Gamaleya Center for Epidemiology and Microbiology," she said.

The official noted that in 2018, Arwan Pharmaceutical Industries obtained a quality certificate to deliver three kinds of drugs to the Russian market. The company’s pharmaceutical production facilities were inspected by a committee sent by the Russian Industry and Trade Ministry.

On February 5, the expert committee of the Lebanese Healthcare Ministry approved the emergency use listing of the Russian Sputnik V vaccine against the coronavirus infection. On March 7, Lebanon’s interim Healthcare Minister Hamad Hasan reported that the government had granted permission to Lebanese private companies to conduct talks with pharmaceutical companies producing vaccines against the coronavirus infection. According to him, rights were granted to 20 local enterprises with 13 of them planning to sign contracts with Russia.

The inoculation drive against the coronavirus infection with the Russian Sputnik V vaccine was launched in Lebanon on March 30. Chairman of the Lebanese-Russian Business Council Jacques Sarraf told TASS that the private medical sector cooperated with the government in fighting the pandemic. The first shots were administered to employees of state-owned Middle East Airlines.