1. The Ministry of Foreign Affairs, together with the Ministry of Health and Welfare, will dispatch a private-public delegation to Latin America to seek cooperation with the region in the health and medical care sector. The aim of the seventh such group’s visit from April 17 till 29 is to seek ways to support bids of Korean companies to build presence in health and medical care markets of Latin America.

* Private-public delegations have been sent to emerging healthcare markets since 2013 to help Korean companies enter those markets. This is a model of private-public cooperation, where the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, the Ministry of Health and Welfare, and other relevant government agencies work together.

° The delegation will first visit the Inter-American Development Bank (IDB), an international organization promoting socio-economic development of Latin America, and then Brazil, Colombia and Mexico, where it will hold meetings with government officials and forums on pharmaceuticals and medical devices.

° The 34-member delegation will be led by the head of the Office for Healthcare Policy of the Ministry of Health and Welfare, and composed of officials of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, the Ministry of Health and Welfare, the Korea Health Industry Development Institute, and 14 pharmaceutical and medical device companies.

2. In the high-level meeting with the IDB, the two sides will discuss the direction of joint cooperation projects to be conducted with the IDB’s funds. As soon as health and medical care experts of Korea are dispatched to the IDB in the second half of 2018, specific measures will be taken to follow up on what will be agreed upon at the meeting.

* The Ministry of Health and Welfare and the IDB concluded a memorandum of understanding in September 2016 and agreed in March 2017 to dispatch Korean health and medical experts to the IDB.

° No joint projects have been conducted by the ROK and the IDB in the health and medical care sector since the former’s accession to the latter in 2005. As a result of the forthcoming meeting, more opportunities are expected to be offered to Korean companies to build presence in the Latin American market worth $55 bln.

* According to the Korea Pharmaceutical Traders Association and the Ministry of Food and Drug Safety, in 2015, Korea earned some $250 mln, about $170 mln and approximately $5.3 mln from pharmaceutical, medical device and cosmetics exports, respectively, to Latin America.

° In the meetings with officials of the IDB Offices in Brazil, Colombia and Mexico, the delegation will learn about the local demands and explore ways that the IDB, those individual countries and the ROK can work together and benefit from the cooperation.

* Cooperation could take place to set up an information and communications technology (ICT)-based medical system, facilitating Korean companies’ entry into the local healthcare IT market.

3. In the three Latin American countries, the delegation, with the support of the Korea Trade-Investment Agency (KOTRA) trade offices in Sao Paulo, Bogota and Mexico City as well as the ROK’s local diplomatic missions, will hold one-on-one trade consultations in a bid to offer Korean enterprises opportunities to seek cooperation with local companies.

° In Brazil, the delegation will also hold an “ROK-Brazil entrepreneurs’ night” event, during which a local pharmaceutical association, the Brazilian Association of Public Laboratories and others will deliver presentations on the ROK-Brazil cooperation in the health and medical care industry.

* The Ministry of Foreign Affairs (the Embassy in Brazil) and the Ministry of Health and Welfare will co-host the event.

° At the “ROK-Colombia business forum on pharmaceuticals and medical devices,” the Korea Health Industry Development Institute and Korean civilian experts will offer to local companies information on the ROK’s healthcare industry and relevant approval and licensing system. 

° At the “briefing and promotional seminar on ways to build presence in Mexico’s health and medical care market,” the Mexican Ministry of Health, a pharmaceutical association and a medical device industry association will share with the ROK delegation information on the Mexican market situation and the ROK’s pharmaceutical and medical device industry.

4. In the bilateral inter-governmental meetings with the Brazilian and Colombian Ministries of Health, the ROK delegation will ask the two governments to cooperate strongly for Korean pharmaceutical, healthcare and medical device exports to be approved and licensed smoothly.

5. The ROK government will continue various efforts, including dispatching private-public delegations, to help the country’s health and medical care industry sharpen its competitiveness in the global healthcare market.

* unofficial translation