Tasnim – Officials from Iran and Russia weighed plans on the joint production of vaccine for the novel coronavirus.

Iran’s Ambassador to Moscow Kazem Jalali and CEO of the Russian Direct Investment Fund Kirill Dmitriev held a videoconference to talk about collaboration between the two countries in development of a coronavirus vaccine.

In the videoconference, the Iranian envoy voiced Tehran’s readiness to carry out a plan for collaboration with Moscow in the production of vaccine, following a recent conversation between the Iranian and Russian health ministers on joint pharmaceutical projects.

Congratulating Russia on its success to produce a vaccine for COVID-19, the ambassador pointed to the results of recent meetings between the Pasteur Institute of Iran and the Russian Gamali National Center for Epidemiology and Microbiology, and expressed hope that the process of joint production of the vaccine would begin soon under the auspices of the Russian Direct Investment Fund.

For his part, Dmitriev expressed satisfaction with close cooperation between the two countries in developing COVID-19 vaccine, saying the mass-production of vaccine in collaboration with Iran would be soon put on Russia’s agenda.

In an interview with Tasnim in August, Russian Ambassador to Tehran Levan Jagarian said his country was ready to provide Iran with the Russian vaccine for coronavirus.

Expressing Russia’s readiness to work with the other countries on the production and export of the COVID-19 vaccine that has passed tests in his country, he said several countries such as Brazil, Vietnam, Serbia and the Philippines have applied for the Russian vaccine.

The ambassador said he has informed the Iranian Foreign Ministry of Moscow’s readiness for cooperation with Tehran, noting that a Russian company has been designated to work with an Iranian peer to discuss the conditions and date of delivering the vaccine to Iran.