USHA SHARMA – Mumbai
With an aim to promote cooperation and trade between members companies of India and China and facilitating development of pharma and healthcare industries, Pharmaceuticals Export Promotion Council of India (Pharmexcil) recently signed a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) with China Chamber of Commerce for Import and Export of Medicines and Health Products (CCCMHPIE). The MoU was signed during the visit of Li Keqiang, Prime Minister, China to India. Raghuveer Kini, Executive Director signed on behalf of Pharmexcil and Dr Xu Ming on behalf of CCCMPHIE at a recently held event in New Delhi. The MoU was signed in the presence of Minister of Commerce, Industry and Textile Minister, Anand Sharma and Gao Hucheng, Commerce Minister of People’s Republic of China.
In an exclusive interaction with Express Pharma, Raghuveer Kini, Executive Director, Pharmexcil said, “Our recently signed MoU will enhance our existing capability and will give us better reach to the Chinese market. At present our exporters are not exposed to the entire Chinese market. It will also help Indian pharma companies to showcase and visit many more international events in China.”
Kini further informed about the hassles in regulatory registrations. “We have also discussed about the delay in the registration process which our companies face a number of times. In future if any critical issues crop up regarding the registration process, Pharmexcil will consider and try to resolve them as early as possible which is also the same for CCCMHPIE.”
Under the agreement as specified in the MoU, both the countries need to work for long-term cooperation. Information should be mentioned in English for smooth understanding and a list of websites need to be provided. Assistance should be provided for seminars, exhibition and other related activities. Both parties would make efforts to ensure that the fee structure and timelines taken by drug regulatory authorities of both countries for granting product registrations would be reasonable and appropriate. A mechanism needs to be established for coordination, consultation, mutual understanding and communication with regard to any concerns regarding market access in the other.
Kini commented, “We are happy to sign this agreement with CCCMHPIE and certainly it will accelerate the growth in Indian pharma companies.
