Officials of Russia and Bangladesh are in talks regarding manufacturing Russian Sputnik-V Covid-19 vaccines in Bangladesh, as per a report in the Daily Star. This comes after Russia proposed local manufacturing in Bangladesh of its vaccines.

"We agreed with them (Russia) on co-production (of vaccine) … though it's not finalized yet," Bangladesh’s Foreign Minister Dr. AK Abdul Momen, was quoted as saying by the Daily Star.

The country has been looking to diversify its vaccine supply lines as India’s Serum Institute of India (SII) failed to deliver vaccines on time. Authorities in Bangladesh had expressed interest in importing Russia’s Sputnik-V vaccines.

Russia, however, doesn’t have enough production capacity to meet export demands. Russian officials, therefore, suggested producing vaccines locally in Bangladesh in collaboration with its pharmaceutical companies.

Momin said Russia will provide the technology and Bangladeshi pharmaceutical companies will produce the Sputnik V vaccine here. "If things go well, it will be cheap and hopefully it will be better," he added.

Reports suggested China has expressed its inability to supply its Sinopharm vaccines to Bangladesh before the end of the year due to prior commitments to other countries.

Recently, the World Bank assured Bangladesh that they would provide eight million vaccines by next month.