In the path of evolving and consolidating India-Afghanistan bilateral partnership, both nations have lately inked an Memorandum of Understanding(MoU) with respect to the pharmaceutical sector which is worth USD 100 million. The MoU marks the beginning of a new phase in the New Delhi-Kabul strategic, trade and economic partnership. Leading pharmaceutical companies of India and Afghanistan signed the deal in Dubai. Rofi’s International Group of Companies from Afghanistan and Zydus Lifesciences, one of the largest pharmaceutical companies of India, sealed the MoU at the Afghan Consulate in Dubai.
The MoU heralds a new phase in the bilateral relations with rendering adequate health and medical assistance to Afghanistan from India. For New Delhi, the deal helps to further consolidate its remarkable footprint in the global health and pharmaceutical sector, as Indian pharmacy is the third largest in the world in terms of volume. India and Afghanistan trade is evolving in a very drastic phase, especially in the aftermath of the latest visit of Alhaj Nooruddin Azizi, Minister for Commerce and Industry in the Taliban-led Afghanistan government. The bilateral visit to New Delhi was aimed at achieving progress in the India-Afghanistan relations in terms of trade, investment etc.
As per the initial terms of the MoU India will export medicines to Kabul and after a few years the company will establish a representative office in Afghanistan and will commence production in the country. This will also give a major boost to the economic progress and business ecosystem of Afghanistan. Officials also asserted that the process has already started to transfer the technical knowledge in order to necessitate local production in Afghanistan.
The Afghanistan government hailed the deal as a transformative step in strengthening the healthcare ecosystem of the country, which ensures continuous and timely supply of the quality medicines which are of international standards to Kabul. The MoU in the long-run helps to reduce import dependency for critical medicines and will capacitate the domestic pharmaceutical supply chain. The traders and health professionals have welcomed the deal as futuristic and beneficial.
The pharmaceutical sector of India has global accreditation. It is the third largest in the world in terms of volume of production. 50 per cent of the global vaccines are supplied from India and the country has a renowned position in terms of production of generic medicines. The Indian pharma industry is set to grow worth Rs. 130 billion by 2030. The affordable pricing mechanisms have made Indian medicines globally accessible. India exports medicines and other pharma products to more than 200 nations which is worth USD 27.82 billion and ranks 12th position globally.
India-Afghan pharma deal; A setback to Pakistan
The growing strategic partnership between India and Afghanistan has yet again rendered a significant blow to the interests of Pakistan in South Asia. On the one hand, Afghanistan and Pakistan relations are deteriorating day by day with spiking border conflicts and bombings, with the violation of a fragile ceasefire. On the other hand, Afghanistan-India relations are evolving addressing the geopolitical necessities of the era. This has indeed irked Pakistan.
The latest MoU related to the pharmaceutical sector is a setback to Pakistan because, while inking a deal with New Delhi, Kabul has directed its companies to halt trade with Pakistan and refute pharmaceutical business with Pakistani suppliers. The Taliban has also given an ultimatum of three months to the pharma companies to cut down business with Pakistan. This is a significant setback to Islamabad.
Pakistan is emerging as a headache to the neighbouring countries as an impact of its illicit ambitions, terror policies etc. Internally, the nation is disintegrated politically and socially coupled with an economic crisis. Countries like India and Afghanistan are acting with the intention of strategic maturity to secure respective national interest amidst geopolitical difficulties. The latest MoU between India and Afghanistan reflects this strategic pragmatism, which is inevitable when the neighbour is a terror state.
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