Russia expects that the implementation of its joint technological projects with Nicaragua and Bolivia would see progress in 2019, Alexander Shchetinin, the director of the Latin American Department of the Russian Foreign Ministry, told Sputnik in an interview
MOSCOW (Pakistan Point News / Sputnik - 08th February, 2019) Russia expects that the implementation of its joint technological projects with Nicaragua and Bolivia would see progress in 2019, Alexander Shchetinin, the director of the Latin American Department of the Russian Foreign Ministry, told Sputnik in an interview."We expect progress in implementation of important technological projects this year. [We expect that] JV [joint venture] Mechnikov plant, where vaccines and serums will be produced, will start operating in Nicaragua, while the nuclear research center will be created in Bolivia. We consistently promote Russian engineering production to these countries," Shchetinin said.
The Mechnikov plant was opened in Nicaragua in October 2016. It was planned that the vaccine production would start in 2017, but it has not started yet. It was supposed that, initially, 15 million influenza vaccines would be produced annually, and then production of vaccines against other diseases would start.
Bolivia signed a contract with a subsidiary of Russia's nuclear giant Rosatom, in September 2017, to build a nuclear research and technology center in western Bolivian highlands.
The facility will operate a 200kW pressurized water reactor. The project is estimated at over $300 million and has a projected functional capacity of 50 years, after which the reactor can be modernized to extend its exploitation period.
