Cuba will sell five million doses of the Abdala COVID-19 vaccine to Vietnam, according to an agreement signed this Monday between the two countries, in the context of the Vietnamese president’s visit to the island.
The agreement was signed by Marta Ayala, general director of the Cuban Center for Genetic Engineering and Biotechnology (CIGB), and Nguyen Dang Hien, director of the Vietnamese Research Center for Biological Products and Vaccines (POLYVAC). It establishes the purchase, “at first,” of five million doses of the immunogen by the Asian nation, the Agencia Cubana de Noticias (ACN) news agency reported.
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The signing of the contract, held at the CIGB, was attended by Vietnamese President Nguyen Xuan Phuc, who this Sunday met with his Cuban counterpart Miguel Díaz-Canel and who this very Monday was informed of the main historical results of the Cuban Biotechnology and Pharmaceutical Industries Group (BioCubaFarma) and, in particular, against COVID-19, by its president, Dr. Eduardo Martínez.
Also present on behalf of the island’s government was the Minister of Health Dr. José Ángel Portal.
Previously, the CIGB and POLYVAC had signed another scientific-technical collaboration agreement, as part of the agenda of Xuan Phuc’s visit. On that occasion, the directors of both centers signed a memorandum for the biotechnological development of products to combat cancer, diabetes, neurodegenerative diseases, among others.
And a day earlier, last Saturday, the Ministry of Health of Vietnam had approved the import and use in its population of the Cuban Abdala vaccine, as a step prior to the agreement signed this Monday.
Also this Monday, authorities of the two countries signed agreements “to strengthen bilateral cooperation in areas such as tourism and energy,” the ACN reported in another report .
According to the news agency, the Gran Caribe and Cubanacán hotel groups “signed memoranda of understanding with the Vietnamese entity City Land Investment Company Limited for the constitution of two joint ventures for the construction and development of hotel projects,” while the Cuban Electricity Conglomerate and the Thai Bihn Green Power Investment Corporation “signed a contract for the sale of electricity for a project in the Mariel Special Development Zone (ZEDM).”
During the signing of these legal instruments, Vietnamese Minister of Construction Nguyen Thanh Nghi made a “symbolic” donation of 5,000 tons of rice to the Cuban Minister of Foreign Trade Rodrigo Malmierca on behalf of the authorities and the people Vietnam, while companies in the construction sector of that Asian nation offered an additional 1,000 tons of rice.
