Brazil is seeking to collaborate with UAE in its projects of vaccines production for the existing and future pandemics along with tropical diseases, a senior Brazilian official, astronaut-turned minister Marco Pontes, who is on a working visit to UAE, told Emirates News Agency WAM. "We are going to test the first Brazilian vaccine [against Covid-19] this month that can be [useful] for even future pandemics," said Marco Pontes, Brazilian Minister of Science, Technology and Innovation.

During an interview with WAM in Dubai, minister said that Brazil has invested in 15 strategies [with 15 types of different technologies] for vaccines. Clinical trials of four of them are to commence soon. One, an RNA messenger vaccine named RNA-MCTI-Cimatec-HDT, will have phase one and two clinical trials this month.

"I think they will be ready for production next year. Brazil will be one more player [in vaccine industry] to be able to help other countries. It is important for South America to have a country [in the continent] to provide vaccines for future pandemics as well," Pontes said.

He added Brazil is to develop vaccines for diseases like dengue, chikungunya and yellow fever that are common in tropical countries, like Brazil.

When asked about Brazil and UAE’s potential collaboration in vaccine projects, the minister said, "For sure! This is one of the reasons I brought my team here now, not only to demonstrate what we are doing there in Brazil in several different areas, but also to try and get some partnership, collaboration or cooperation, especially with companies [in UAE] that want to work with Brazil."

Pointing out that Brazil is a large nation of over 200 million population, minister said, “So it's a big market. It's a good opportunity for us and for other countries or investors that can invest in Brazil [in projects including vaccine research and production].”

Pontes had a decorated career as an astronaut before he became the Minister of Science, Technology and Innovation of Brazil on 1st January 2019.

Pontes is the only Brazilian astronaut and the first astronaut to officially represent a country of southern hemisphere in a space expedition. He was a mission specialist in 2006 Centenary Mission, a partnership between the space agencies of Brazil and Russia.

Brazil is seeking collaboration in the UAE's space projects. About the UAE’s announcement of a new interplanetary mission to be launched in 2028, that is aimed at exploring the asteroid belt between Mars and Jupiter, the minister said, "I think this is wonderful. I went to the Space Agency here. I talked with some of the guys there and they are amazing. It's really good to have more countries going ahead in space sector. I hope we can work together in some of those projects," he said.