RIO DE JANEIRO, October 13. /TASS/. Vaccines are going to be manufactured in Ecuador thanks to an agreement signed by Moscow and Quito, Ecuador’s Foreign Minister, Guillaume Long, said on Wednesday following a meeting of the bilateral intergovernmental commission for trade and economic cooperation.
"One of the most important agreements reached today is a cooperation accord between the Yachai state-run company and the St. Petersburg Research Institute of Vaccines and Serums stipulating the production of vaccines for both commercial use and research in immunobiology. We need our own production capacities in the pharmaceutical industry, and we will obtain them with Russia’s support," El Universo newspaper quotes him as saying.
During the meeting, Long also praised the cooperation between Ecuador’s Technical University and the South-West State University located in Kursk, central Russia, on the construction of a telecommunications satellite for the South American country. "The satellite will be launched in the near future, which is an example of our strategic cooperation in the aerospace sphere," the minister said.
For his part, head of Russia’s Federal Service for Veterinary and Phytosanitary Surveillance, Sergei Dankvert, who leads the Russian delegation within the framework of the intergovernmental commission, hoped that the range of Ecuadorian food commodities supplied to Russia would be expanded. "We hope that at some point confectionery, chocolate and dairy products (from Ecuador) will appear on the Russian market," he stated.
The 4th meeting of the Russian-Ecuadorian intergovernmental commission for trade and economic cooperation was held in Quito on October 11-12. Round-table discussions in four areas - trade, agriculture, strategic industries and human resources - were organized within the framework of the event.