ISLAMABAD, MAR 19 (DNA) – Ibrahim Almadani, Ambassador of the Hashemite Kingdom of Jordan vowed that he would play a role for developing strong cooperation of his country with Pakistan in the pharmaceutical sector as both countries have great potential to share expertise and learn from each other for producing high quality pharmaceutical products and enhance exports.

He expressed these views while paying a visit to various local pharmaceutical industries including Global Pharma, AMSON Pharma, Paramount Pharmaceuticals and Focus & Rulz Pharmaceuticals at Kahuta Industrial Triangle, Humak, Islamabad. Sardar Yasir Ilyas Khan President Islamabad Chamber of Commerce & Industry, Shamim Ahmed Khan owner of AMSON Pharmaceuticals, Nasir Qureshi owner of Paramount Pharmaceuticals, Fazl e Hanan owner of Focus & Rulz, ICCI Executive Members Usman Khalid, Umar Hussain, Omais Khattak and others were also present at the occasion.

Ibrahim Almadani along with Sardar Yasir Ilyas Khan and others took a round of the production units of pharmaceutical companies and appreciated their latest technology and modern manufacturing facilities. He said that the pharmaceutical factories in Jordan were also producing quality products and close cooperation between the pharma companies of Jordan and Pakistan would be mutually beneficial for them as it would help them to share expertise and technology and produce world class pharmaceutical products for exports.

Speaking at the occasion, Sardar Yasir Ilyas Khan, President, Islamabad Chamber of Commerce & Industry briefed the Jordanian envoy about the potential of Pakistan’s pharmaceutical industry. He said that Pakistan was now emerging as a key player in the global pharmaceutical industry due to excellent quality of its medicines.

He said that over 750 pharmaceutical units including MNCs were doing successful business in Pakistan and were meeting around 70 percent needs of the country’s medicines demand. He said that many of them were exporting products around the world as Pakistan’s pharmaceutical exports have witnessed an increase of around 23 percent during the first quarter of FY 2020-21, which showed its great future prospects.

He said that by developing close cooperation in the pharmaceutical sector, Pakistan and Jordan could achieve significant benefits for their economies and boost exports. He assured that ICCI would fully cooperate in developing strong business linkages between the private sectors of Pakistan and Jordan for achieving mutually beneficial results.

Nasir Qureshi, Fazl-e-Hanan and Shamim Ahmed Khan gave presentations about their production facilities to the Ambassador and said that they would like to enhance export of their pharma products to Jordan and through Jordan to other regional countries.

They urged that the government should streamline the registration process of medicines and facilitate better growth of the pharma industry by addressing its key issues so that this industry could boost exports and contribute towards strengthening the economy.

They emphasized that the government should provide zero-rated tax on the import of pharma plants and equipment, give relaxation in GST and get it registered with the FDA. They said that the government should provide support for producing raw material of medicines in the country that would boost the pharma industry and bring down prices of medicines as well.=DNA

====================