Russia urged to open up its pharmaceuticals market to Indian imports

Russia should open its booming $19 billion pharmaceuticals market and expedite the list of 500 drugs that it currently imports from India, said India’s Commerce, Industry and Textiles Minister Anand Sharma during a recent visit to St Petersburg, urging Russian authorities to let Indian pharmaceutical companies form joint partnerships with Russian companies, reports the Indian Business Standard newspaper.

India has asked Russia to establish a nodal agency to create a joint committee for implementation of memorandum of understanding between Indian and Russian pharma companies, especially in the field of quality control and standard requirements on conformity assessment of pharmaceuticals and bio-pharmaceuticals. India has already nominated its own nodal agency - The National Institute of Pharmaceutical Education and Research (NIPER) - under the Department of Pharmaceuticals.

Barriers to access $19 billion market