Vietnam signs new agreement with Russia to expand production of the Sputnik V vaccine and commence manufacturing Sputnik Light. 

Vietnam and Russia have made a new agreement to expand production of the Sputnik V vaccine in the country. In addition, the country will also begin manufacturing the Sputnik Light vaccine, which only requires a single injection versus the current two dose method required by most Covid-19 vaccines.

During Vietnam’s President Nguyen Xuan Phuc’s visit to Russia earlier last week, the agreement was signed between the Russian Direct Investment Fund (RDIF), Binnopharm Group, T&T Group, and the operator of the first Vietnamese-Russian industrial park, Deep C Russia. The RDIF will offer thorough technology support and quality checks ensuring the vaccines produced in Vietnam align with international standards.

A US$60 to US$70 million initial investment will be made to enable the technical implementation of the project, which will begin in early 2022. Full-scale production is scheduled to commence in early 2023, allowing for the manufacturing of around 40 million doses of the Sputnik V vaccine per year.

At the end of September 2021, VABIOTECH, one of Vietnam’s leading pharmaceutical companies, successfully produced its first batch of Sputnik V vaccines. The batch was sent to the Gamaleya Center, the Russian institute, where they were developed, for quality control. Following this successful trial, VABIOTECH aims to manufacture 5 million doses per month, and will increase to 100 million doses per year starting in 2023.

Vietnam and Russia are also targeting to increase two-way trade by 15 times, from the US$5 billion achieved in 2021 from 70 years of diplomatic relations.

The Vietnam- Eurasian Economic Union (EAEU) free trade zone (FTA), which includes Armenia, Belarus, Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, and Russia, which has a combined population of 187 million people and US$5 trillion in GDP, will help to achieve this growth. Vietnam was the first member of ASEAN to partner with the EAEU, and Singapore has since made an agreement.

Vietnamese duties will be reduced for EAEU products to one percent by 2025, from the current ten percent, and the EAEU’s average will be lowered to two percent from 9.7 percent.

Furthermore, through Vietnam’s participation in the Regional Comprehensive Economic Partnership (RCEP), more opportunities will open for Russian goods and services to be accessible for Asia’s over 2 billion consumers.

 

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