Korea-Paraguay Signs Memorandum of Understanding on Medical Products The Ministry of Food and Drug Safety (MFDS) welcomes the signing of a Memorandum of Understanding (MOU) with the National Sanitary Surveillance Agency of Paraguay on the 28th to recognise Korea as a country with high sanitary surveillance for medical products.
The MOU provides that Paraguay will include Korea as a country with high sanitary surveillance in its medical products legislation and work to simplify the licensing and registration process for Korean medical products, and that KFDA will provide training and advice on good manufacturing practices (GMP) to Paraguayan officials based on its international regulatory capabilities.
Paraguay's recognition of Korea as a high-level biosurveillance country is expected to facilitate the entry of domestic pharmaceutical and biotechnology companies into Paraguay by simplifying the drug approval process, including exemptions from GMP surveys.
Currently, Paraguay's biosafety watch list includes 15 developed countries such as the United States, Germany, the United Kingdom, France, and Japan. This designation is a testament to the international recognition of our health authorities and industry.
It is also encouraging that Paraguay can become a bridgehead to enter the South American pharmaceutical market. According to the Korea Trade-Investment Promotion Agency (KOTRA), Paraguay's imports of foreign pharmaceuticals have been growing at an average annual rate of 16 per cent over the past three years. In addition, Paraguay is increasing its export performance by meeting the strict quality standards for pharmaceuticals required by neighbouring countries such as Brazil and Cuba. Given Paraguay's high credibility among Latin American countries, we are confident that this MOU will help the domestic pharmaceutical and biotechnology industry enter the Latin American market.
I would like to express my gratitude to Dr Oh Yoo-kyung and other officials of the Ministry of Food and Drug Safety for their hard work, and promise that the Korean pharmaceutical and biotechnology industry will continue to do its best to strengthen its competitiveness and accelerate its entry into overseas markets.
