Russia is seeking to eliminate barriers that obstruct vaccine production and distribution around the world, Russian President Vladimir Putin said at an online meeting with leaders of the Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation (APEC).

We believe that it is vital to continue working together on creating new vaccine production capacities in Asia-Pacific, elimination of administrative and other barriers that hinder their production and supply, Putin said.

He added that Russia believes expansion of vaccination scales to be a primary task in the fight against the pandemic.

We are ready for close cooperation with APEC partners on such key areas as organization of mass immunization of populations, including work migrants, rehabilitation and recovery of health of those, who had the virus, the Russian leader said.

According to him, the global vaccination pace determines, how fast the global economy can be revived, how risks linked to new waves of infections can be minimized, and how negative trends in the social sphere can be overcome.

Putin recalled that Russia had already developed four “safe and reliable” coronavirus vaccines, which are being used now. “The high quality of the first global coronavirus vaccine, Sputnik V, has already been confirmed by almost 70 states, which officially approved it for use,” the president clarified.

He added that Russia actively fosters localization of its vaccine production abroad, which is based on technology transfer, while agreements were inked with several foreign companies, including APEC ones, to produce more than 800 million doses of Sputnik V every year in total.