With resources from Amexcid, foreign entities, and contributions from private foundations, projects from universities and education centers against the coronavirus will be supported.
The Ministry of Foreign Affairs announces that 19 Mexican scientific projects for vaccines and treatments against COVID-19 will receive funding to accelerate their research and development. This will be possible through an integrated fund with resources from the Mexican Agency for International Development Cooperation (Amexcid), foreign entities, and private sector foundations.
The financing of the 19 projects selected for a first phase is the result of the work done by the Mexican Consortium for Vaccines and COVID-19 Treatments, in which the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, universities, research centers, and Mexican companies participate. The Consortium’s objective is to seek funding through international cooperation resources for Mexican projects that are against the coronavirus.
The objective of this efforts and all the initiatives related to the development, testing and manufacture of vaccines against COVID-19 promoted by the SRE is for Mexico to have timely and early access to the antidote, as instructed by President of Mexico Andrés Manuel López Obrador.
The projects presented to the consortium, mostly from institutions and public research centers, will be supported, the Minister of Foreign Affairs, Marcelo Ebrard Casaubon, announced today.
“Mexico will increase its technological capacity, no matter what it takes. Otherwise there is no way out, not only because of the pandemic, but in terms of wealth generation. We have said it many times, but it must be put into practice, and that is why we are meeting today,” said Ebrard Casaubon.
The Undersecretary for Multilateral Affairs and Human Rights, Martha Delgado Peralta, recalled that “the Ministry of Foreign Affairs participates in all multilateral forums and efforts to find medical solutions to the COVID-19 pandemic. The Ministry of Foreign Affairs, in coordination with the governments of other countries and private organizations, have continued to search for financing options to ensure the development of public health solutions in Mexico. "
Meanwhile, Esther Orozco Orozco, coordinator of the Consortium, presented the 19 projects for the prevention and treatment of COVID-19 that were selected in this 2020 first stage. They were presented by higher education institutions such as the National Autonomous University of Mexico, the National Polytechnic Institute (IPN), the Center for Research and Advanced Studies of the IPN (Cinvestav), and the Autonomous University of Querétaro. These projects work to develop vaccines as well as treatments and diagnostic tests.
Finally, the Minister of Foreign Affairs, Marcelo Ebrard, thanked Enrique Graue Wiechers, Dean of the National Autonomous University of Mexico for their support; as well as the National Polytechnic Institute (IPN); the Cinvestav; the National Association of Universities and Institutions of Higher Education; the autonomous universities of Baja California, Querétaro and Colima; the Mexican Foundation for Health; the Monterrey Institute of Technology and Higher Education, among many other health and technology institutions and foundations.