The government will consider providing cash incentives on pharmaceutical exports to help flourish the sector and increase its export potentiality.
“I can assure you that the cash incentive on pharmaceutical exports will be provided very soon,” said Commerce Minister Tofail Ahmed at the inauguration ceremony of a three-day long 8th Asia Pharma Expo 2016, an international exhibition on complete pharmaceutical manufacturing technologies at International Convention City Bashundhara (ICCB) in the capital yesterday.
Bangladesh Association of Pharmaceutical Industries (BAPI) and GPE Expo Pvt Limited jointly organised the expo to offer a unique opportunity for showcasing wide-range of pharmaceutical products and services to develop information and knowledge relating to pharmaceuticals machineries, bulk drugs, environmental equipments and analytical laboratory supplies in a single platform.
A total of 475 exhibiting companies from 28 countries including India, China, United Kingdom, Singapore, USA, New Zealand and Germany etc is taking part in the expo, organisers said.
The exhibitors include pharmaceutical processing machineries, packaging machineries, packaging material and consumables, pharmaceutical finished products, environment control equipments and services, utilities products and services. The expo will be open from 10:00am to 6:00pm till Saturday
The minister said: “The two promises the government has made in its seventh five-year plan are-to increase products diversification and market expansion.”
“We are gradually entering into new markets and the export will reach US$60bn by 2021,” hoped Tofail.
In this regard, the government is giving top most priority on six potential sectors, among which, pharmaceuticals is one of the important one while the rest sectors are- ship building, leather, furniture, jute and agro products, he explained.
The minister stated that Bangladesh was economically moving towards right direction and pharmaceuticals industry was also playing very important role here.
“Earlier, Bangladesh used to import 70% pharmaceuticals products to meet the domestic demand, but now the country not only meet 97% of its domestic demands but also export pharmaceutical products to nearly 170 countries,” he reminded.
The minister also hoped that the total export would be more than US$5bn from the sector in the next three years.
Bangladesh as an LDC will be allowed to maintain maximum flexibility in patenting pharmaceuticals products until 2033, following a decision by World Trade Organisations’s (WTO) council for Trade Related Aspects of Intellectual Property Rights (TRIPS) which would have huge positive impact in Bangladesh pharmaceutical sector, he added.
The minister also said establishment of an Active Pharmaceutical Ingredients (API) park in Baushia in Munshiganj would open up a new era for pharmaceutical industry.
Directorate General of Drug Administration Major General Mustafizur Rahman said the draft drug policy would help flourish the pharmaceutical manufacturing sector once it gets final approval.
Health Secretary Syed Manjurul Islam said: “The government is giving all the policy-level support to the industry for ensuring fair competition.”
“We are on our way to formulate next generation drug policy. We have drafted the drug policy to boost to pharmaceutical industry,” he said.
BAPI Adviser Abdul Muktadir, Secretary General SM Shafiuzaman, and Senior Vice-President Md Harunur Rashid also spoke at the inaugural ceremony.