1. A private-public delegation was dispatched to Argentina and Brazil from April 19 till 26 by the Ministry of Foreign Affairs and the Ministry of Health and Welfare to support bids of pharmaceutical and medical supply companies of the Republic of Korea to build their presence in those countries.

° The delegation was led by Minister of Health and Welfare Chung Chin-youb and comprised of 28 people, including officials of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, the Ministry of Health and Welfare and the Korea Health Industry Development Institute as well as those from eleven pharmaceutical and medical supply companies.

° The purpose of the dispatch of the delegation was to pave the way for the presence of the ROK’s pharmaceutical and medical supply companies in Argentina and Brazil.

2. In Argentina, Minister of Health and Welfare Chung met with the country’s Minister of Health Jorge Lemus, during which the two ranking officials agreed to streamline the registration process for the ROK-made medicine and medical supplies in Argentina.

3. Minister Chung and his Argentine counterpart agreed to further step up cooperation between their two countries on health and medical care, especially the information and communications technology (ICT)-based medical information system and tele-medical services, and to boost exchanges between medical personnel of their two countries.

° The ROK delegation informed the Argentine side of the ROK’s successful health insurance and hospital information systems as well as their exports to other countries, expressing the ROK’s interest in taking part in the e-Health project of Argentina.

° The two sides agreed to conduct a Medical Korea Academy training program for Argentine medical workers in the ROK and to have Korean medical personnel visit Argentina for exchanges.

4. Business forums on pharmaceuticals and medical supplies were held in Argentina and Brazil with the support of the Buenos Aires and Sao Paolo offices of the Korea Trade-Investment Promotion Agency (KOTRA), respectively, which served as opportunities for the Korean companies in the delegation to seek out partners in the Latin American countries.

° The Korea Health Industry Development Institute briefed the local companies on the ROK’s health industry, while the representatives of the Korean companies learned from the presentations by Argentine and Brazilian experts the two Latin American countries’ licensing systems for pharmaceutical and medical supplies.

° A total of 140 one-on-one business consultations took place between 56 local and Korean companies.

5. In both Argentina and Brazil, Minister Chung visited leading medical institutions, during which he informed them of the ROK’s medical equipment and medicine, thereby paving the way for private exchanges in the field, such as for cooperation with the ROK’s medical institutions on the information technology (IT)-based medical technology.

° The Korea Health Industry Development Institute and Incor Hospital of Brazil concluded in the presence of Minister Chung a letter of intent on cooperation, which is expected to help move forward exchanges between medical workers and joint studies.

6. Minister Chung, calling “the health and medical services market of Latin America one that should be tapped despite licensing regulations and geographical limitations,” stressed that:

° “The Ministry of Health and Welfare and the Ministry of Foreign Affairs should be united in helping foreign countries improve their unreasonable systems, the Korea Health Industry Development Institute should systematically support exports, and KOTRA should steadily help enhance the connectivity between Korean companies and their Latin American counterparts”; and

° “If the private and public sectors of the ROK continue joint efforts to build presence in the Latin American market, pharmaceutical and medical supply companies will end up seeing their presence largely expanded in the region.”


* unofficial translation