Over 100 enterprises from 20 countries and territories will attend the 10 th Saigon medi-pharmaceutical expo in Ho Chi Minh City from August 18-21.

This year, Vietnamese businesses will display their products at half of the 250 pavilions with well-known brand names like Dong Thap Pharmaceutical Joint Stock Company, Hau Giang Pharmaceutical Joint Stock Company, 3/2 Pharmaceutical Joint Stock Company, Phuc Vinh Oriental Medicine Company and Roussel Vietnam Company.

A number of companies from Hungary , Japan , the US , New Zealand and Hong Kong will attend the expo for the first time.

A series of seminars to introduce Vietnamese pharmaceutical markets, the country’s regulations and policies regarding its health sector as well as updated technologies in global pharmaceutical production will take place within the framework of the expo.

According to the Ministry of Health, the Vietnamese pharmaceutical market recorded an average growth rate of 20 percent while other ASEAN member countries stayed at 13 percent growth during the past ten years.

A total of 39 foreign projects have invested in the sector, of which 27 have got underway with registered capital of 300 million USD, the ministry said.

Only 98 out of 178 medicine producers nationwide can meet the Good Manufacturing Practice (GMP), the ministry said, adding that the country meets only 50 percent of demand and has to import vitamins and medicines for heart disease and cancer.

Thus, the exhibition is seen as a valuable opportunity for domestic businesses to exchange experiences and learn pharmaceutical production technologies from nations across the world while expanding cooperative relations and attracting investment, the ministry stated./.