25 SCO member states come together to promote traditional medicine under India presidency

New Delhi [India], March 29 : The B2B Conference and Expo, along with the National Arogya Summit, held in Guwahati recently under the aegis of the Ministry of Ayush under India's presidency of Shanghai Cooperation Organisation (SCO), has successfully brought together 25 SCO countries to promote Traditional Medicine so as that it can contribute in the economic development, environment protection and achieve the goal of Health Security among the SCO nations, read an official release.
According to the release, the event was attended by H.E. Dr Thet Khaing Win, the minister for Health, Myanmar, H.E. Safiyya Mohamed Saeed, the deputy minister for Health, Maldives and Dr Munjpara Mahendrabhai, MoS for Ayush and also saw the participation of China, Russia and Pakistan in technical sessions in virtual mode. The event was inaugurated by the Union Minister of Ayush and Ports, Shipping & Waterways, Sarbananda Sonowal.
India attained the SCO full member status in 2017 and after assuming the presidency of SCO Council of Heads of State for the year 2023 on September 17 2022 at Samarkand in Uzbekistan, Prime Minister Narendra Modi had remarked that India would take the initiative for a new SCO Expert Working Group on Traditional Medicine, the release added.
Accordingly, the Ministry of Ayush has taken various initiatives on Traditional Medicine during India's SCO Presidency -- it organised a virtual conference of experts and practitioners of Traditional Medicine, conducted the First Expert Working Group (EWG) on Traditional Medicine wherein Draft Regulations of the EWG on Traditional Medicine were approved at an expert level and will be further subjected to other respective country administrative procedures and finally to be adopted at the Head of the States Summit.
It is in this light that the Guwahati SCO B2B Conference and Expo acquire importance and could take the momentum further.
On the sidelines of the SCO B2B conference, the Ministry of Ayush also had a bilateral meeting with Myanmar to discuss cooperation on Ayurveda and Traditional Medicine. An MoU was signed between the Ministry of Ayush, India and the Ministry of Health, Myanmar on 29th August 2016, which is automatically extended and valid up till 28th August 2026.
The Indian side was led by Shri Sarbananda Sonowal, Minister for Ayush and Ports, Shipping & waterways. Myanmar's side was led by H.E. Dr Thet Khaing Win, Minister, Ministry of Health, Myanmar.
The conference was attended by a total of 214 participants, of which 83 were international delegates from 16 SCO countries and 131 were Indian delegates. A total of 30 presentations were made during the said event of which 19 were from SCO countries. Eleven presentations were delivered by the Indian side, including presentations from the Ministry of Ayush and the industry, read the release.
Active participation by all representatives across various discussions, presentations, and trade activities and concurrently running National Arogya Summit Expo was a remarkable achievement, the release added.
While 56 exhibitors, including industries, educational institutes and Ayush services providers, exhibited their products, and institutions and infrastructure, were involved in the B2B expo in Guwahati, the encouraging response came from 60 buyers from 11 countries in the form of keen interest, the release said.
During the conference and the expo, more than 125 one-to-one meetings were held between buyers and sellers. The trade interest was received from 13 SCO countries in the fields of Ayurveda Education, Traditional Medicine Products and developing Infrastructure for providing Ayurveda and Yoga for Medical Value Travel.
These B2B meeting participants were from Tajikistan, Armenia, Uzbekistan, Mongolia, Kazakhstan, Bahrain, Myanmar, Sri Lanka and India, added the release.
Explaining the theme of the conference, the release stated, "The B2B conference was organized in line with the theme "SECURE" SCO, where 'S' stands for Security for Citizens, 'E' for Economic Development, 'C' for Connectivity, 'U' for Unity, 'R' for Respect for Sovereignty and Territorial Unity and 'E' for Environment Protection. These themes were covered during the SCO events in India in the following manner."
The SCO nations deliberated on various issues pertaining to traditional medicine, easing trade for traditional medicine within the SCO nations and promoting traditional medicine. These issues were discussed to achieve the goal of Health Security among the SCO nations, which relates to the Security (Health) theme of SCO, added the release.
As per the release, 16 SCO nations brought under one umbrella for deliberating on the key agenda of the development of traditional medicine and its active promotion served to highlight the connectivity theme of SCO.
A consensus was developed among the experts from SCO member states on the Regulations of the EWG on TM under SCO which relates to the Unity theme of SCO, added the release.