Seeking to step up South-South cooperation in social and economic areas, Brazil invited Indian investment in its health sector envisaging a new model of cooperation between emerging markets of the world."Given vibrant health and pharma sectors in both countries, we can set a model for cooperation between emerging markets as part of a mutual engagement among developing economies," Brazilian Health Minister Jose Gomes Temporao said in New Delhi on Monday.
He said the country's efforts to explore new possibilities of cooperation in the social sector with another Latin American country Cuba had yielded positive results and the same could also happen with India.
"Brazil has put in place a progressive development policy, which among other things aims to provide incentives for foreign participation," he said.
There was plenty of scope for Indian firms to invest in the South American nation's health sector, he added.
"Our's is quite an open market. In 2007, Brazil had 850 pharmaceutical companies operating with a turnover of USD 13.6 billion, five percent of which was generated by nationalised companies," Temporao said.
The Minister is leading a Brazilian industry delegation to India which will hold week-long deliberations with their counterparts in New Delhi to draw a joint strategy for cooperation and participation in each others' markets.
Union Minister for Health and Family Welfare Anbumani Ramadoss favoured strengthening of cooperation in the health sector between India and Brazil.
In his statement, Ramadoss emphasised the need for cooperation in the field of research.
"We need to develop, in association with WHO, the capacities of other developing countries in legislating and implementing their intellectual property right regimes in a manner that would maximise public health gains," he said.
The Health Minister delineated three areas for close cooperation among the two countries, first, get value from the countries' research and development efforts, second, to bring about lifestyle changes through traditional medicine system of Ayurveda and Yoga and finally cooperation in the areas of biotechnology and pharmaceutical products.
Ramadoss stressed the need for harmonisation of standards in the area of pharmaceutical.
The India-Brazil talks have been initiated by the Indian Ministry of health, with active support from the Confederation of Indian Industry (CII).
Temporao said the Brazilian industry hoped to learn from the experiences of their Indian counterparts and to draw out a concrete strategy for the future before returning back.
