Afghan Deputy Minister for Food and Drugs Holds Key Meeting with Iranian Health Delegation

Mawlawi Hamdullah Zahid The Deputy Minister for Food and Drugs has held talks with the Iranian Ambassador, Iran’s Deputy Minister of Health and the head of the Iran’s Food and Drugs Organization.

Mawlawi Hamdullah Zahid, the Deputy Minister for Food and Drugs at Afghanistan’s Ministry of Public Health, met with Ambassador Ali Reza Bikdeli, Dr Mehdi Pir Salehi — Iran’s Deputy Minister of Health and head of the Food and Drugs Organization — and their accompanying delegation in the auditorium of the Deputy Minister's Office for Food and Drugs.

During the meeting, Mawlawi Zahid welcomed the Iranian delegation, saying such engagements were vital for strengthening relations, exchanging experience and boosting technical cooperation to reinforce regulatory systems between the two neighbouring countries.

The technical advisory team of the Deputy Minister's Office delivered a brief presentation outlining the department’s introduction, its functions, and its working processes — in particular the procedures for registering foreign companies and their products.

The presentation also covered trade and investment facilities in the pharmaceutical and health-product sectors, the capacity of domestic pharmaceutical production, the points agreed in the memorandum of understanding with Iran, and proposals for strengthening cooperation in food regulation, pharmaceuticals, traditional medicine and acupuncture.

Dr Mehdi Pir Salehi, thanking the Deputy Minister's Office for its hospitality, welcomed Afghanistan’s regulatory progress. He said the purpose of their visit was to strengthen relations and harmonise trade regulation between the two countries, to implement the regulatory agreements already reached, to declare Iran’s readiness to help build the capacity of Afghan specialists, to assure the quality of Iranian medicines, and to request greater facilitation in the registration of Iranian companies and pharmaceutical items.

Responding to the remarks, the Deputy Minister for Food and Drugs explained the facilities already introduced in the registration processes for companies and their products. He added that, once assured of quality, price, and measures to prevent smuggling and counterfeiting, the Ministry remained committed to all necessary cooperation and facilitation.