Indo-Swiss Bilateral Meeting Concluded at Geneva on Sidelines of World Health Assembly

A bilateral meeting between Union Minister of Health & Family Welfare, India, Ghulam Nabi Azad and Minister of Health Switzerland, Alain Berset, was concluded on 20 May 2013 at Geneva. The meeting was held on the sidelines of World Health Assembly at Geneva. The aim of the meeting was to give further impetus to cooperation in the field of healthcare.

In the past, various bilateral institutional arrangements between India and Switzerland have been signed and these include Indo-Swiss Joint Commission, Swiss- India Chamber of Commerce, Indo-Swiss Joint Committee on Science & technology and many more.

In the meeting, it was decided that an MoU between the two countries will be inked soon for broadening the scope of bilateral ties. The major areas of cooperation of that MoU will be:

• Non-Communicable Diseases including controlling the associated risk factors of tobacco use, harmful alcohol use, unhealthy diet, etc.
• Communicable Diseases and Anti- Microbial resistance
• Universal Health Coverage
• Maternal & Child health
• Sexual & Reproductive Health
• Health & Medical Research
• Therapeutic Products
• Electronic Medical Records
• Global Health Governance

In the meeting, it was exuded that Switzerland will extend full support to India on global platforms in order to carry forward the pursuits of providing high quality generic medicines at affordable prices.