The 15th Meeting of the ASEAN Conculatative Committee for Standards and Quality (ACCSQ) for Pharmaceutical Product Working Group (PPWG) was held in Bandar Sri Begawan between 28-31 July 2008.

Opening ceremony

This 15th meeting was held for the very first time in Brunei and attracted some 220 delegates from the all the ASEAN government regulators (except Myanmar delegation was absent) and the stakeholders from the multinational and generic industrial groups and expert observers from the WHO.

Group photo of the official delegates with Brunei Minister of Health

The meeting was officiated by the Minister of Health, Brunei Darulsalam – Pehin Orang Kaya Indera Pahlawan Dato Seri Setia Haji Suyoi Bin Haji Osman. During the opening speech, the Minister emphasized the importance of forging a concept of free-market so as to remove technical barriers through ASEAN Harmonisation and to ensure that drugs sold in ASEAN region continue to be safe, efficacious and of good quality.

The 4-day meeting brought together senior regulators who diligently negotiated for Mutual Recognition Agreement (MRA) and put together proposals to be ratified by their respective leaders in order to improve the pharmaceutical product regulatory framework within the ASEAN region. With the ASEAN Common Technical Dossier (ACTD) and ASEAN Common Technical Requirement (ACTR) to be implemented by 01-Jan-2009, we are forging one step closer to realize the vision of achieving an ASEAN Common Market by 2015. 

The next ACCSQ PPWG meeting will be hosted by Philippines in May 2009.

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