core sector communique

India-UK Bilateral Meeting

Following is the text of statement given by the Union Minister for Health & Family Welfare Shri Ghulam Nabi Azad at the India-UK Bilateral Meeting held at London yesterday: “At the outset, let me congratulate the people and Government of the United Kingdom on Her Majesty the Queen’s Diamond Jubilee celebrations and for the privilege of hosting the Olympic and Paralympic Games at London in 2012. I would like to thank you Mr. Secretary and the Prime Minister for the kind invitation to visit UK to attend the two prestigious health & life sciences events on 1-2 August, 2012. At a time when providing equitable, affordable and accessible health is the concern of the global community, these are worthwhile initiatives on the part of the UK Government. GoI and GoUK are important strategic partners with strong linkages in the field of Health. In recognition of this, it is good that we are proposing to establish a platform of sustained collaboration for mutual benefit by signing a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU). The purpose of this arrangement would be to strengthen collaboration and partnerships in the health sectors between India and UK. The exchange of information and cooperation through a formal agreement will be useful in:- i) Promoting exchange on health-care policy in India and the UK. ii) Human resources for health issues, with particular focus on education and training and exchange in the fields of medical training, family medicine and nursing. iii) Regulatory issues, including regulation and quality assurance of medicines and medical devices and sharing of quality standards. iv) Primary Health-care; linking to the themes above to further specific cooperation on primary health-care as the keystone of a health-care system. v) Strengthening of Public Health Infrastructure and capacity. vi) Health Security, including cooperation on infectious disease, emerging infections and drug resistance. I once again thank you for your invitation to visit UK and for taking out the time for this bilateral meeting. Your hospitality during the last two days has simply been wonderful. If you recall, when we met on the sidelines of the UN General Assembly special session on NCDs, I had invited you to visit India and would like to reiterate the invitation today. We hope that you are able to take out sometime in the near future and visit India on mutually convenient dates to carry forward the close and historic cooperation in the fields of health & medicine. I thank you.”