The Indian delegation led by Shri Bhagwant Khuba, Union Minister of State for Chemicals and Fertilizers is leaving today to participate in the 2nd World Local Production Forum (WLPF) at The Hague, Netherlands being organised from 6 to 8 November 2023.

During his visit, a Memorandum of Intent (MOI) between India and Netherlands on cooperation in the field of medical product regulation is likely to be signed. The Minister will also visit the European Medicines Agency. He will also visit Eindhoven to take part in Kannada Rajyotsava 2023 Celebrations of Shrigandha Holland Kannada Balaga.

The World Local Production Platform is a platform created at the initiative of WHO with the aim of increasing access to medicines and other health technologies. This forum provides Member States and the global community with a regular platform to shape strategies, galvanize collective action, and foster partnerships on sustainable local production to improve timely and equitable access to quality assured health products. The Local Production and Assistance (LPA) Unit at the WLPF Secretariat is closely working with the Kingdom of the Netherlands as the hosting country to organize this Forum.

The meeting would be a great opportunity for India to interact with other countries as well as multilateral organizations to boost resilience in global supply chains of pharmaceuticals and showcase important contribution made by India in this space in the pharma sector, since the second WLPF aims to provide a global platform to discuss key challenges in promoting local production and technology transfer and explore opportunities and mechanisms to tackle the bottlenecks and promote sustainable local production capacity to improve access to quality, safe and effective health products and technologies.

This forum will continue to facilitate engaging discussions, share best practices, and generate actionable recommendations that contribute to strengthening local production capacities and improving global health security. The 2nd WLPF is expected to physically convene up to 800 high-level participants from diverse sectors, such as relevant ministers and senior-level government officials, leaders and representatives of international organizations and other development partners, senior representatives from international and regional finance institutions, representatives of the private sector, civil societies, and academia. Hence, participation in this event is relevant since India is a major player substantially contributing to supply chain in pharmaceuticals as well as global public health care outcomes in an affordable and quality conscious manner.

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