Spokesman Report

BEIJING: The Shanghai Cooperation Organization (SCO) conference on development of medical and pharmaceutical cooperation was recently held in Suzhou, China. Attendees included representatives from the public and private sectors related to healthcare from Pakistan, China, Iran, Kazakhstan, the Kyrgyz Republic, the Islamic the Russian Federation, and Uzbekistan. During the conference, issues of strengthening international cooperation in the field of medicine and pharmaceuticals, harmonising quality control and registration of medicines within the SCO, and ensuring that pharmaceuticals have access to the markets of the SCO member states were all discussed, according to SCO Secretariat here. The participants adopted the Suzhou Initiative following the SCO Conference on the Development of Medical and Pharmaceutical Cooperation, which reflects the goals and tasks related to the further promotion of SCO cooperation in pharma and healthcare, as well as ways to create an expanded, open, mutually beneficial and equal partnership aimed at the effective development of the pharmaceutical industry in the SCO space.