The sovereign funds of Russia and Bahrain have signed a preliminary agreement on Thursday to manufacture and distribute the Russian Sputnik V COVID-19 vaccine across the Middle East and North Africa region.
“Bahrain Mumtalakat Holding Company, the sovereign wealth fund of Bahrain, signed a Memorandum of Understanding with the Russian Direct Investment Fund (RDIF), Russia’s sovereign wealth fund, and Binnopharm Group to explore the establishment of a vaccine production facility in the Kingdom to manufacture and distribute the Sputnik V COVID-19 vaccine across the GCC and MENA region,” Bahrain News Agency reported Thursday.
The Binnopharm Group is а subsidiary of Sistema PJSFC, a publicly traded Russian investment company, it said.
The MoU was signed in the presence of Minister of Foreign Affairs Dr. Abdullatif bin Rashid Al Zayani during the St. Petersburg International Economic Forum (SPIEF) held this week in Russia.
“Our partnership with both RDIF and Binnopharm Group will enable the Kingdom of Bahrain to continue to be at the forefront of fighting this pandemic whilst working to further enhance the region’s healthcare sector through the establishment of this facility," CEO of Mumtalakat Khalid Al Rumaihi said.
"As the sovereign wealth fund of Bahrain we continue to look into partnerships and ventures that will add value to our portfolio as well as bring long-term sustainable solutions to the Kingdom and wider region.”
RDIF CEO Kirill Dimitriev said the “collaboration with Mumtalakat goes back a long way and has resulted in a successful co-investment program as well as a fruitful partnership between our organizations."
"We are delighted to extend our cooperation to establish a production facility in Bahrain to produce Sputnik V - the world’s first registered coronavirus vaccine. Sputnik V has been included in Bahrain’s national portfolio in February and the vaccine is successfully used to protect the population against COVID," he added.
