RIYADH — In a bid to boost trade or investment in the promising pharmaceutical sector between Saudi Arabia and India, a webinar was organized by Pharmexcil, the export promotion body under government of India’s Ministry of Commerce in collaboration with Embassies of India in Saudi Arabia and Oman on Wednesday.

The Saudi and India participants discussed the great potential in collaborating in the pharmaceutical sector and the two countries also debated on the ways and means to ease regulatory measures in order to ease in doing business and also rake in the investments.

India is called the pharmacy of the world and its network of pharmaceutical brands have created cost effective and quality generic medicines which have been a panacea for the world.

When COVID-19 struck, India went a step ahead supplying Hydroxychloroquine and other COVID related drugs to many countries around the globe.

India’s Ambassador Dr. Ausaf Sayeed spoke regarding the opportunities in this sector for India stressing on Saudi pharma market being one the fastest growing markets today to serve MENA and OIC.

“The Saudi pharma market has grown by almost 5% to reach $10.74 billion, and hence is brimming with opportunity,” he added.

The Saudi Indian Business Network (SIBN) President Abdullah Al Kassabi said that Saudi Arabia is in the heart of Islamic World. Leveraging Saudi Export Development Authority and EXIM bank program, Saudi Arabia can boost exports to MENA region and to the rest of the world, he said.

SFDA officials Wasem Alshalwi, Lujain Almmalouh and Raghad Alanaz gave an introduction to the regulations with respect to the pharmaceutical market in Saudi Arabia.

Saud Al Hwaimel, technical director of Sudair Pharma and Ex-SFDA chief of inspection, Abu Moosa, executive manager, Scientific Products Pharmaceuticals and Abdullah Jomaih, partner of Hetero Pharma, also spoke on the opportunities ahead for the two countries to explore.

The meeting was attended by around 100 Indian companies and 30 prominent Saudi pharmaceutical business houses. The event ended with a B2B interaction. — SG