A delegation from the Ministry of Science and Technology (MST)’s Rural and Mountainous Programme visited India from June 20-26 to learn experiences from Indian partners in developing remedies from herbs.

The delegation’s visit also aimed to study ways to promote Vietnam ’s herbal products in the global market, build a digital library on national medicines and protect the intellectual property for traditional drugs.

The delegation introduced several medicinal herbs that were discovered and developed under the programme and called for the Indian side’s support and cooperation in the context that the WB is to approve a herbal remedy development loan.

During the visit, the Vietnamese delegation had working sessions with several Indian agencies, including the Traditional Knowledge Digital Library (TKDL), Dabur Fund – India ’s leading research agency on herbal remedies and the National Botanical Research Institute.

At the meetings, the two sides exchanged views on possibilities for cooperation and agreed to jointly draw up projects to produce medicines from herbs and promote intellectual property protection.

The Rural and Mountainous Programme is being implemented under an agreement signed between MST Minister Hoang Van Phong and Dr. Mashelkar, President of the World Bank’s Global Research Alliance./.