Prospects of medicines exports to Iraq getting dimmed

Exports of pharmaceutical products from Bangladesh to Iraq are getting delayed due to a lack of progress in talks despite interests shown by the Arab country.
Earlier, the Iraqi ministry of health had expressed its interests to import pharmaceuticals and hire medical professionals from Bangladesh to rebuild its shattered medical sector, officials said.
The Bangladesh embassy in Baghdad, in a letter to the ministry of foreign affairs on February 28, 2017, cited the Iraqi government's interests to import pharmaceuticals and enhance cooperation with the country's health sector.
There are immense potentials for exporting locally-produced medicines to Iraq and expand cooperation in the health sector.
There are scopes for sending Bangladeshi medical professionals as well to the war- ravaged Arab country.
The Iraqi government has also provided a list of importable pharmaceuticals products to Bangladesh and expressed willingness to sign a memorandum of understanding (MoU) for cooperation in the health sector.
A senior trade official said that the ministry of health and family planning, the ministry of commerce and the ministry of foreign affairs are dealing with exporting pharmaceutical products to Iraq.
He, however, admitted that there is little progress in this respect.
He said that a government delegation from Iraq was supposed to visit the country, but it deferred the visit.
A leader of the Bangladesh Association of Pharmaceutical Industries (BAPI) told the FE that they will sit with the ministries concerned soon for exporting pharmaceutical products to Iraq.
Pharmaceutical is one of the fastest-growing sectors in the country. The total size of the pharmaceutical market of Bangladesh is estimated to be around Tk 30,000 million with an annual growth rate of about 10 per cent.
There are almost over 0.1 million skilled personnel including pharmacists, doctors, biologists, microbiologists, chemists, engineers and businessmen are involved in the sector.
The domestic medicine market size of Bangladesh is more than Tk 120 billion.
The country is producing 98 per cent of total demand for pharmaceuticals. Bangladesh is also exporting medicines to 127 countries in the world.
As a least-developed country (LDC), Bangladesh has got the added advantage, as it can make generic medicines without complying with the patent regulations until 2033.
The export income of around Tk 4.0 billion a year has increased in recent years by penetrating regulated markets such as the United States and European countries.
The country has the potential to export medicines worth US$10 billion to the US market alone if the government provides better policy support and incentives, according to sector-insiders.
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