The Russian Direct Investment Fund (RDIF) that partly financed the medical aid delivered to New York on Wednesday said that the organisation “now investing in the production of testing systems, medicines and medical equipment” necessary to fight the pandemic in a close cooperation with American colleagues and with a help of international partners.
“RDIF has been a reliable partner for the U.S. companies over many years and has been consistently calling for dialogue between Russia and the United States”, RDIF said in a statement. “Today such dialogue is critically important for fighting the coronavirus on global level”.
The organisation, that was founded by then Russian President Dmitry Medvedev in 2011, said that they have been also working with American firms to deliver supplies to Russia from the United States “in case it is necessary”. Several US partners have offered their financial assistance to pay half of the costs that will be incurred in such a case, RDIF said.
The fund will also continue working not only with the United States, but also with some other countries, including China, Japan and UAE, as the first deliveries of medical supplies aimed for Russian laboratories and hospitals have already been received from Beijing and Tokyo.
“The coronavirus pandemic is the global challenge, which can only be dealt with through an all-encompassing international cooperation”, the fund insisted.
On 2 April, the number of confirmed coronavirus cases in the United States exceeded 216,000, according to Johns Hopkins University data, with more than 5,000 deaths.