RP, India agree to improve cooperation in providing cheap medicines

The Philippines and India agreed yesterday to improve efforts and cooperation in the pharmaceutical industry to provide cheap medicines for the poor.

President Arroyo and visiting Indian President Avul Pakir Jainulabdeen Abdul Kalam witnessed the signing of the agreement between the Philippine International Trading Corp. (PITC) and its Indian counterpart for pharmaceuticals to expand the Philippines’ supply base for quality medicines from lower-priced source countries like India.

India has been the primary supplier of multinational-branded medicines to the Philippines under the government’s parallel importation program since 2000.

The PITC, the only authorized entity to undertake parallel importation of pharmaceuticals in the country, has been purchasing quality medicines from India. Its total annual imports have grown steadily, reaching close to $1 million in 2005.

Kalam’s visit, the first in 15 years, is expected to boost bilateral ties between the two countries.

Aside from the pharmaceutical agreement, the two countries also signed agreements on defense, tourism and agricultural cooperation.

Even as defense and security cooperation between the two countries is ongoing, a new agreement will provide legal framework to enhance defense cooperation through exchanges in military training, expertise and information; exchanges in military instructors and observers exchange of visits of military aircraft and naval vessels and defense technology cooperation.

Manila and New Delhi have also agreed to jointly promote tourism activities, including the exchange of information and expertise in the development of traditional tourism products, crafts and industries.

The agreement will also undertake joint marketing and promotion programs, exchange of expertise and best practices in the management and operation of tourism businesses.

The third agreement on cooperation in agriculture and related fields, on the other hand, aims to promote the exchange of agricultural materials and information technology.

The agreement covers exchanging agricultural scientists, experts and trainees; organizing symposia, conferences and other activities covering the cooperation in rice production and processing, sugarcane technology, multiple cropping, bio-organic farming, horticulture, cotton-growing, dairy development, among other similar endeavors.

Following the signing of the agreements, Kalam turned over to Mrs. Arroyo the improved varieties of asha peanut and sweet sorghum - considered the best alternative supplement to sugarcane for ethanol production.

The peanut variety and sweet sorghum are both being introduced for commercial production in the country.

Asha peanuts, which are almost double the size of the local variety, were introduced to the country last year. It is being pilot-grown in Cagayan and Isabela for possible commercial production.

Sweet sorghum, on the other hand, is a good substitute for sugar and a raw material for the production of ethanol. It is already being blended with gasoline (up to 10 percent) in several Asian countries including India.

The improved variety of sweet sorghum is now considered the best alternative to supplement sugarcane in line with the Philippines’ plan to establish a national ethanol fuel program.

The cost of producing one liter of ethanol from sweet sorghum is lower than that from sugarcane molasses.

Local distilleries, which only operate at 50 percent efficiency due to the limited availability of molasses, can be fully utilized if cultivation of sweet sorghum is promoted for ethanol production.

Agriculture Secretary Domingo Panganiban, one of the Cabinet officials who attended the bilateral talks with India, said the government, through presidential adviser on agriculture Oscar Garin, along with the Department of Science and Technology and concerned agencies, would send a delegation to India to study the operations of ethanol production.

Panganiban pointed out sweet sorghum "is very resistant to drought and can be harvested in shorter time than sugarcane."