Today’s St. Petersburg Forum Russia-Latin America panel made clear that the potential for the expansion of economic ties between those countries “is huge,” because Russia proved itself a reliable partner in securing vaccine supplies and production for the region. Vaccine cooperation, prospects for increasing trade and investment flows, bilaterally and with the Eurasian Economic Union (EAEU), and the possibility of doing so without using the dollar, dominated the discussion.
High-level ministry officials from Chile, Argentina, Mexico, Guatemala, Guyana, and Venezuela, the Secretary General of the Andean Community (of Bolivia, Colombia, Ecuador, and Peru), the President of the Central American Parliament, and the head of the leading Brazilian pharmaceutical company, Uniao Quimica, were the speakers scheduled from the Ibero-American side.
Sergei Glazyev, Minister for Integration and Macroeconomics of the Eurasian Economic Commission, dominated the panel discussion from the Russian side. He was joined by the head of Russia’s Federal Service for Veterinary and Phytosanitary Surveillance (Rosselkhoznadzor) and the panel’s excellent moderator, Sergey Brilev, knowledgeable about both sides as the anchor of the “Vesti v subbotu” program on TV Channel “Russia” and head of the Bering-Bellingshausen Institute for the Americas in Uruguay.
Uniao Quimica head Fernando De Castro Marques reported that production of Sputnik V in Brazil is underway. UQ has produced its first batch, and once it clears the Russian Gamaleya Institute’s quality checks, it will start producing 8 million Sputnik V doses per month—for both Brazil and its Ibero-American neighbors. Between the Brazilian-produced Sputnik doses and 100 million vaccine doses imported from China and India, he said Brazil could have 70% of its people vaccinated by the end of this year—while exporting vaccines to the region, he emphasized.
