In a statement issued by his ministry, Szijjártó said a high-level cooperation with Moscow in the area of healthcare had benefited Hungary, allowing it to buy 2 million Sputnik jabs in the spring, contributing to the fastest vaccine rollout in Europe.
"Now we've agreed to raise this cooperation with vaccines to a new, higher level," he added.
Hungary has an economic interest in manufacturing a vaccine that is in high demand worldwide, he said.
Murashko told Szijjártó that a World Health Organisation (WHO) procedure to list the Sputnik vaccine for emergency use will speed up with the government set to sign an agreement on the procedure with the WHO on Wednesday.
Szijjártó said Hungary had positive experience with the Sputnik V vaccine and is ready to make its own data available to the WHO for the procedure.
A meeting of the Hungarian-Russian joint economic committee – which Murashko co-chairs – will take place late in November to hash out the details of production of the vaccine in Hungary.
In a post on his Facebook page, Szijjártó said licenced production of the Sputnik COVID vaccine in Hungary "could start in the fall of next year".
Hungary laid the cornerstone of its HUF 55 billion national vaccine plant in Debrecen (195 km east of Budapest) in September.
Producing journalism that is worthy of the name is a costly business. For over 30 years, the publishers, editors and reporters of the Budapest Business Journal have striven to bring you business news that works, information that you can trust, that is factual, accurate and presented without fear or favor.Newspaper organizations across the globe have struggled to find a business model that allows them to continue to excel, without compromising their ability to perform. Most recently, some have experimented with the idea of involving their most important stakeholders, their readers.
We would like to offer that same opportunity to our readers. We would like to invite you to help us deliver the quality business journalism you require. Hit our Support the BBJ button and you can choose the how much and how often you send us your contributions.
