Opening Ceremony Of The 5th Asean Consultative Committee For Standards And Quality Traditional Medicines And Health Supplements Product Working Group Meeting

27 Jul 2006

By Mr Heng Chee How, Minister of State for Health

Venue: Novotel Clarke Quay Hotel Singapore

Mrs Mawarwati Djamaluddin,

Permanent Secretary, National Agency of Drug and Food Control, Indonesia

And Chair of the ASEAN Consultative Committee on Standards and Quality Traditional Medicines and Health Supplements Product Working Group

Professor Lim Mong King,

Chairman, Health Sciences Authority

Dr John Lim,

Chief Executive Officer, Health Sciences Authority

Distinguished ASEAN Delegates, Representatives of the ASEAN Secretariat and Participants;

Ladies and Gentlemen;

Good Morning,

I am delighted to officiate this Opening Ceremony of the 5th Meeting of the ASEAN Consultative Committee for Standards and Quality (ACCSQ) Traditional Medicines and Health Supplements Product Working Group (TMHS PWG). Singapore is honoured to host this Working Group meeting, and I extend a very warm welcome to all distinguished ASEAN delegates and participants at this Meeting.

Southeast Asia is an economically and culturally vibrant region with great potential for growth. Since 1967, ASEAN has served as an important platform for regional co-operation. Over the years, it has developed a vast network of mechanisms to achieve this objective.

ASEAN's potential is tremendous. The region is home to about one-tenth of the world's population and has an increasingly better educated and skilled labour force. Natural resources are abundant. Each member country of ASEAN, given its natural endowments and stage of economic development, brings complementary strengths to the grouping. Regional integration is therefore the best way forward.

One good example of such regional economic cooperation was the decision of the 4th ASEAN Summit, held in Singapore in January 1992, to set up an ASEAN Free Trade Area (AFTA). This initiative sought to integrate the 10 national markets. It would both tap and serve a combined population of more than 500 million people. An economically integrated ASEAN would be much more attractive to investments than a collection of relatively small, segmented markets.

The ASEAN Summit in Bali in October 2003 saw another significant development. ASEAN Leaders at that meeting re-affirmed their commitment to establish an ASEAN Economic Community by the year 2020 through existing and new initiatives with clear timelines. The following year, in November 2004 in Vientiane, ASEAN Leaders signed the Framework Agreement for the integration of eleven priority sectors, including the Healthcare Sector, to fast track the economic integration process through specific protocols and roadmaps.

Singapore was asked to drive and facilitate the economic integration of the Healthcare Sector. The Healthcare Roadmap includes specific measures for health products, including traditional medicines and health supplements.

It was within this context that the ASEAN Consultative Committee for Standards and Quality (ACCSQ) under the auspices of the Senior Economic Officials Meeting (SEOM), established the Traditional Medicines and Health Supplements Product Working Group (TMHS PWG) in 2004. The aim of this Working Group is to develop and implement specific measures to facilitate the integration of regulations on traditional medicines and health supplements across ASEAN. These measures include studying existing regulatory regimes and the technical infrastructure in Member Countries to facilitate identification of areas for possible harmonisation and conclusion of Mutual Recognition Arrangements.

The task of the Group is a challenging one because there are no clear international standards or guidelines available for traditional medicines and health supplements. This is due to their immense diversity and complex nature, as well as features and practices that differ between the two broad categories of products. Despite these very real and practical difficulties, the TMHS PWG has made good progress towards meeting the set objectives and timelines of its work programme. I note that the Working Group has even succeeded in accelerating the timelines for some of the measures, such as the study of the regulatory framework and the development of the ASEAN post-marketing alert system. It has also moved swiftly to harmonise the terminologies and definitions used in these two groups of products, and has taken significant steps to identify specific technical areas for harmonisation. Its progress has been most commendable.

I am also pleased to note that the Working Group has embarked on in-depth studies of the approaches adopted by various leading international and regional organisations and regulatory agencies. This approach will certainly help to further expedite the Working Group's efforts.

I congratulate the TMHS PWG on its achievements to date. The fulfilment of the mandate of this Working Group will facilitate trade and spur the growth of the Traditional Medicines and Health Supplements industries in the region. It will also enlarge the range of safe and good quality traditional medicines and health supplements available to the peoples of this region and beyond.

In closing, I would like to thank the 5th ACCSQ TMHS PWG Meeting Organising Committee for its superb efforts in organising this meeting. I wish you all a fruitful time of deliberation at this Meeting, and a most pleasant stay in Singapore.

Ladies and Gentlemen, it is with great pleasure that I now declare this 5th ACCSQ TMHS PWG Meeting officially open.

Thank you.