CARACAS, Venezuela, (teleSUR) – On Monday, Venezuelan President Nicolas Maduro announced that a Russian company will set up operations in the country to produce insulin.
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“Among the many things we accomplished during our visit to Russia, we sealed an agreement with a company from St Petersburg to produce insulin in Venezuela. This is part of an alliance with a very powerful and technologically advanced company,” he said during his weekly television program “Con Maduro+”.
The Bolivarian leader explained that the Russian company already exports insulin to Venezuela — a country, he said, that suffers under a US economic blockade, an arbitrary policy that affects the importation of medicines.
“It was difficult, but Russia, through its powerful company in St Petersburg, brought insulin to the country. Now we’re going to set up the company here,” Maduro reiterated, adding that his administration is also exploring the local production of vaccines with support from Iran, Cuba and Russia.
Last week, Maduro and Russian President Vladimir Putin signed a Strategic Partnership and Cooperation Agreement aimed at consolidating “the high level achieved in Russian-Venezuelan relations” and laying out the basic principles and guidelines for long-term cooperation.
During a meeting with Maduro, who visited Moscow to mark the 80th anniversary of diplomatic relations between the two nations, Putin highlighted that trade between Russia and Venezuela increased by 64 percent in 2024. He noted “promising prospects” for cooperation in sectors such as energy, transportation, logistics, healthcare and pharmaceuticals.
Maduro also expressed confidence that the strategic partnership agreement with Moscow will allow relations to “flourish” between Russia — “today the leading power of humanity” — and Venezuela, which he described as “fighting for the ideals of Simon Bolivar and Hugo Chavez.”