Vladimir Putin on Thursday met Argentine leader Alberto Fernandez and expressed hope for further face-to-face contacts in both countries.
"You are visiting Russia only briefly this time, of course, due to this situation (the pandemic - TASS)," Putin said. "But I hope we will be able to continue our in-person contacts in Argentina and Russia."
He added he was very happy to see Fernandez, and that they had been planning to have a face-to-face meeting for a long time. "Unfortunately, it was impossible to do this due to epidemiological circumstances," the Russian president said. Putin also said that both he and the Argentine president were flying to Beijing for the opening of the Olympic Games scheduled for February 4.
Before then, the presidents can comfortably discuss bilateral ties and the international situation, Putin said.
Putin extended his appreciation to his Argentinean counterpart, Alberto Fernandez, for being the first country in the Western Hemisphere to register the Russian coronavirus vaccine Sputnik V.
Sputnik V production was launched earlier on sites in Argentina, the Russian President noted. Over 6 mln doses of the pharmaceutical have already been produced and registration of the Sputnik M vaccine for adolescents is in progress.
"I would like to congratulate you with such a large-scale of vaccination performed; you have almost 78% of the population vaccinated. This is a very good result," Putin said.
The countries still have to do much for the promotion of bilateral trade and economic cooperation but the pace of its development is good overall, he concluded.
Argentina highly appreciates Russia’s assistance in combating the pandemic, including shipments of coronavirus vaccines, Alberto Fernandez said.
"Argentina holds Russia in very high regard, and particularly your aid, shipping the vaccines to us. This was very important to combat the pandemic," he noted.
Fernandez stressed that Moscow significantly supported Buenos Aires at this moment. "We are very grateful to you, since there was a shortage of vaccines at that time, and thanks to your assistance we did a very good job, the results are excellent," the Argentine leader added.
He pointed out that he himself was vaccinated with the Russian Sputnik V vaccine. "I received two doses and waited a little for the third one to be vaccinated with Sputnik," Fernandez said. When hearing this, Putin smiled and replied, "Me too."
Argentina is now facing a difficult situation because we have serious external debt and challenging economic issues.
"Since the 1990s, Argentina has been strongly oriented towards the United States. Argentina and its economy are largely dependent on the US and our relations with it. In fact, our debt to the IMF also emerged because of this relationship," Fernandez noted.
"I am consistently working to rid Argentina of this dependence on the IMF and the US. I want Argentina to open up new opportunities. Cooperation with Russia is vital for us. I would like to assure you, and I hope that you will accept my assurances that we do want to develop cooperation with Russia," he stressed.
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