"Philippines wants to import pharmaceutical products from Bangladesh" says the headline from the news site The Financial Express in a recent report.
The Financial Express reported that the Philippine government, through Philippine Ambassador to Bangladesh Vicente Vivencio T Bandillo, has expressed its interest to import pharmaceutical products from Bangladesh among other things. Bangladesh Commerce Minister Tipu Munshi gave the information after his meeting with the Philippine Ambassador on Wednesday.
According to the report, Bangladesh exported to the Philippines products worth $ 47.04 million against the import of worth $ 8.07 million as of the fiscal year 2017-2018.
In my opinion, that is a huge trade gap! Our country should develop our own pharmaceutical industry so that we can be self-reliant. Our government seems only focused on providing a quick fix to some of our country's problems. Just look at the agricultural sector (the government solution is to import rice to address shortage), and now our pharmaceutical industry! What is happening here?
I do believe that there are brilliant Filipino scientists that are more than capable of turning our industry around. We just need to have the Government's will to really be the catalyst for change. Imagine our country being able to produce our own raw materials, then we can really be self-sufficient. Let's get to work guys!
