On July 16, an online meeting of all Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation (APEC) leaders will be held. According to Kirill Barsky, Ambassador-at-Large for the Russian Ministry of Foreign Affairs and Russia's senior official in APEC, it may have a positive impact on the export of Russian vaccines to other countries.

"On July 16 this year, New Zealand Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern invited leaders from all APEC economies to participate in a two-hour discussion on the current topic of coronavirus control and ways to restore the region's economy," he said.

Barsky noted that interest in the Russian vaccine abroad is very high. "We naturally mean to create through those platforms and mechanisms that have in the APEC forum promotion of our vaccine. Not only for our own interests, but also for those efforts made by countries in the region to fight infection," he said.

He explained that the unimpeded registration of the Russian vaccine, the establishment of cooperation in the field and the production of the vaccine would help to defeat the pandemic as quickly as possible.

He noted, however, that the online meeting would not only discuss the Russian vaccine.

"In multilateral institutions, which APEC is, we are not talking about national vaccines. We're talking about agreements that would help promote vaccines in the region as a whole," Barsky added.

At the same time he expressed confidence that New Zealand's chairmanship priorities fit in very well with today's realities. "First of all, it is about promoting trade liberalization and regional economic integration as much as possible. At this stage, of course, we will also talk about digitalization, the climate agenda, and realizing the potential of groups of people whose capabilities are limited or not fully realized," he concluded.

Made in Russia // Made in Russia

Author: Maria Buzanakova