Russia and Brazil to partner in production & marketing of Sputnik V vaccine

BRICS partners Russia and Brazil have decided to enter into an agreement to cooperate in the production and marketing of the world’s first registered Coronavirus vaccine Sputnik V by Russia.

About the Deal

Russian Direct Investment Fund has stated that the agreement has been signed with the Brazilian State of Parana. As part of this signed strategic cooperation agreement, the RDIF will work together with the pharma companies in the said Brazilian state for the production of Sputnik V vaccine and its distribution in Brazil and other Latin American countries.

Background

Russia has become the first country to register a vaccine for the COVID 19 named as Sputnik V on August 12. The vaccine has been developed by Gamaleya Institute, Russian Defence Ministry and the Russian Direct Investment Fund. This has been registered on August 12 whereas Russia is going to start commercial production of the vaccine within two weeks.

About BRICS

Used as an acronym for Brazil, Russia, India, China and South Africa, it is the grouping of the largest emerging economies in the world. This is not an organization but it is mainly an annual summit between the member country and the chairmanship is rotated annually among the members. The main areas of cooperation under this arrangement are Economic cooperation, people-to-people exchange, political and security cooperation, cooperation mechanism, etc. The first BRICS Summit was held in 2009.

About the New Development Bank

Headquartered in Shanghai, this was launched during the fourth BRICS Summit in 2012 in New Delhi. In 2014, the agreement was signed and NDB was created as part of the Fortaleza declaration. This operates in areas of clean energy, transport infrastructure, irrigation, sustainable urban development and economic cooperation among the member countries.

Month: Current Affairs - August, 2020