Consulate General of India

Shanghai

*****

[Speech by CG at Pharmexcil event; 20 August 2018; 0900 hrs]

Namaskar!! NimenHao!! Good Morning!!

Madam LuoXiaomei, Deputy Director General at the Department of Asian Affairs, Ministry of Commerce

Mr. WengBaoshu,Division Director,CDE

Madam MengDongping,Vice President,CCCMHPIE

Mr.RaviUdayBhaskar, Director General, Pharmexcil and leader of the Business Delegation from Pharmexcil, Chinese Pharma Companies present here,

Friends, ladies and gentlemen,

It gives me great pleasure to be here; and I take this opportunity to welcome you all.

It is important to note that in the year 2015, Governments; all over the world pledged towards implementation of Agenda 2030 which is also called as Sustainable Development Goals. India and China played lead role in shaping the agenda and reflecting the challenges and opportunities for the developing countries. Let me bring it to yours kind attention that in this document the SDG Goal No. 3 which calls for ‘Ensuring healthy lives and well-being for all at all ages’sets a target toend the epidemics of AIDS, tuberculosis, malaria and neglected tropical diseases and combat hepatitis, water-borne diseases and other communicable diseases. This goal also calls for bringing down mortality from cardiovascular disease, cancer, diabetes or chronic respiratory disease. It further urges all Governments, civil Society, businesses like you to achieve universal health coverage, access to quality essential health-care services and access to safe, effective, quality and affordable essential medicines and vaccines for all. This aspect of Health for all has been given due consideration by the Leadership of China and so as the drug regulators and policy makers.

We understand that the Chinese drugs regulators recognized that unless greater market access is given to foreign companies and the obsolete, unwarranted as well as artificial barrier are removed, achieving affordable healthcare will not be feasible.

As you all know that India is at the forefront in making affordabledrugs while maintaining its quality and efficacy, therefore; the companies present here under the auspices of Pharmexil, and many more pharma companies based out of India may help you out in achieving affordable healthcare for all Chinese people of all ages. In other words, todays’ meeting represents one of the best match between China and India because we complement each other.

China is a major economic partner, the largest trading partner and an important investment partner for India. India and China have been able to successfully organize all our bilateral institutional dialogue mechanisms this year. In December last year, our Vice Chairman of NITI Aayog travelled to Beijing and co-chaired 3^rd NITI-DRC Dialogue. He again travelled to Beijing during mid-April to co-chair the 5^th Strategic Economic Dialogue with Chairman of NDRC. The joint Economic Group meeting between the Commerce Ministers was held in March this yearin Delhi. Above all a very successful informal summit in Wuhan in April led to opening of a new chapter in India- China’s bilateral relations. During the informal summit our leaders discussed about growth of pharma trade and today’s event is an important step to achieve the target set by our leaders.

Given the policy imperative to ensure affordable drugs to all its Citizens, China is set to emerge as the fastest growing pharmaceutical markets in the world and India’s advantage in this sector makes it a natural choice for sourcing of affordable, cost-effective and lifesaving drugs by China. The recent box office success of Chinese film ‘Dying to Survive’ narrates the story of a common Chinese man and his faith on Indian Pharma products. Can we come up with a framework of cooperation where both countries leverage their strengths to add value to each other’s business? Which in other words means that Chinese companies to look forward getting market access for manufacturing of APIs in India and the Indian Companies get access to Chinese markets for sale of their formulations?? A true win-win situation for all.

India has some very strong and vibrant private sector health care players. They can play a crucial role in your health sector reforms. India has also emerged as a major health tourism destination in the world. We would be happy to collaborate with the Chinese side to explore the possibility of enhancing health tourism between India and China. Visiting India has become very easy now a days after the introduction of e-visa for purposes including tourism, business and healthcare.

As of now, the Indian Pharma companies are witnessing two major hurdles in China. One is prolonged, complicated and unpredictable process for drug registration and other is public procurement norms restricting them from entering the local market. I am told that China has taken up some reforms in its drug registration process making it simpler for foreign companies to register drugs. We welcome these steps to make the drug registration faster and predictable. We also request you to address our concerns regarding public procurement of drugs.

With these initial thoughts, I would like to take this opportunity to thank Pharmexil and CCCMHPIE for holding this event, and wish all of you for a very productive session. I am confident that the MoU between Pharmexcil and CCCMHPIE which is going to be signed today,will pave the way for greater cooperation in Pharmaceuticals.

I would also like to request Pharmexil to invite CCCMHPIE to visit India and conduct a workshop on procedural issues for registration of drugs in the Chinese market and help CCMHPIE to explore opportunities for production of APIs in India.

Thank you!!