President Vladimir Putin told G20 leaders on Saturday that Russia was ready to provide its Sputnik V coronavirus vaccine to other countries who need it.
Russia is also preparing its second and third vaccine, Putin said, adding that creation of vaccine portfolio was "our common goal.”
Russia supports the Riyadh Summit’s “draft decision aimed at making effective and safe vaccines available to everyone,” he added.
In his opening remarks at the G20 Riyadh Summit, Saudi King Salman bin Abdulaziz urged the leaders of the Group of 20 major economies to prepare better for any future pandemics.
He also said G20 leaders must work towards affordable and equitable access to vaccines and other tools to combat the pandemic.
The Russian president told the virtual summit chaired by Saudi Arabia that the economic growth of countries had been seriously affected by the coronavirus crisis.
"The pandemic has claimed hundreds of thousands of lives and millions of people have lost their jobs," Putin noted.
G20 needs to continue efforts to find common approaches to reforming the World Trade Organization (WTO), he said.
"We need to address pressing issues related to global trade. In particular, there is a need to try to contain protectionism, abandon the practice of unilateral sanctions and restore supply chains," Putin stressed.
"The current agenda also includes the need to tailor multilateral universal trade rules to digital commerce - there is much to be done in this field - as well as to other economic realities," the Russian leader said.
