Afghanistan and Iran Discuss Expanding Regulatory and Trade Cooperation in Food and Pharmaceuticals

A senior delegation from Afghanistan’s Ministry of Public Health has travelled to Iran. The visit was led by the deputy minister for food and drugs, Mawlawi Hamdullah Zahid.

The Afghan delegation included senior officials responsible for the evaluation and registration of medicines and food products, as well as technical advisers and representatives of the import sector. They met Iran’s deputy health minister and the head of the Iranian Food and Drugs Organization, Dr Mehdi Pir-Salehi, in Tehran.

Discussions focused on strengthening regulatory and commercial ties between the two neighbouring countries. Both sides also talked about sharing expertise, expanding technical cooperation, and implementing a previously signed regulatory agreement.

The talks also covered capacity-building for Afghan specialists and ways to ease the import process for food and pharmaceutical products into Afghanistan, and improving regulatory systems was a shared priority.

The visit follows an earlier trip by a high-level Iranian delegation to Kabul, where talks were held with Afghan health officials on boosting bilateral cooperation and facilitating imports of food and medicines.