STRONGER TIES. President Rodrigo R. Duterte and India Prime Minister Narendra Modi shake hands during the bilateral meeting held in New Delhi, India in January this year. (Presidential Photo)
MANILA -- With improving Philippine-Indian bilateral relations since President Rodrigo Duterte’s visit to New Delhi, the two countries continue discussions on improving the country's pharmaceutical industry, Indian Ambassador to the Philippines Jaideep Mazumdar said.
Last April, the two nations held a joint working group meeting, led by the Department of Health.
"In this joint working group, they talked about capacity building, coordination in terms of laws and regulations regarding drugs, training of people, alternative forms of medicine and how to develop the pharmaceutical industry in the Philippines," said Mazumdar in an interview over the weekend.
The envoy described India’s pharmaceutical industry as "vibrant and strong", producing world-class medicines at very reasonable prices. It is in that vein that Duterte is interested to partner with India with focus on the health sector, he added.
"Fifty percent of the world's poor actually depend on Indian medicines. President Rodrigo Duterte is very keen to develop this area with India," Mazumdar said.
India had been supplying medicines to the Philippines, but in the future, the envoy expressed hope that Indian pharmaceutical companies would also set up operations in the country.
Global pharmaceutical companies that are operating in the country include Pfizer, Novartis, Sanofi, GlaxoSmithKline, and Roche.
"We are looking forward to have them (Indian companies) setting up operations here, manufacturing for the Philippines. There are none for the moment," he said.
During his January visit to India, the President invited the South Asian country to make the Philippines its manufacturing hub for key medicines, particularly anti-cancer and human immunodeficiency virus medicines, as well as drugs for diabetes, hypertension, and heart diseases.
Strengthened relations
Since Duterte's visit to India in January this year, Mazumdar said Philippine-Indian relations had been stronger. "There's a very good chemistry between our two leaders, and we've signed several agreements and taken many decisions on taking the bilateral relations forward," he said.
"I can only say it has never been as good as it is now, this is the best it has ever been," he added.
Mazumdar noted that the newly inaugurated Mactan-Cebu International Airport was built by Indian company GMR, in partnership with Filipino construction company Megawide.
"They are also doing the Clark International Airport project and maybe, they'll do others as well. A lot of things are happening in the bilateral relationship of the Philippines and India," he said. (PNA)
