Presently, in the pharmaceutical industry in Bangladesh, 98 percent of the country’s total demand for medicine is met by domestic institutions. The country also exports medicines to several countries parallel to meeting domestic demand. In the fiscal year 2021-22, Bangladesh’s pharmaceutical export revenue was US$ 188.78 million the domestic market of which is about US$ 3.5 billion. In 2018, Bangladesh was ranked 71st on the list of 134 countries that export medicines. Bangladesh needs to try and build capacities to exploit the benefits of the transition period of graduation out of the least developed countries category as much as possible to further develop its pharmaceutical industry. Bangladesh, however, imports huge amounts of raw materials and chemicals, for example about $1.050 billion in 2020-21, mostly from developing countries such as China, India, Korea, Singapore, and Malaysia. With the graduation of Bangladesh to a developing country, we need to follow the growth path of developing countries that have been successful.
Session Objectives:
- Deliberating on the various product categories in the pharmaceutical value chain
- Highlight potential of pharmaceutical sector in Bangladesh and the important sub-sectors/products that offer prospects for trade and investment.
- Discussing policy reforms to match/ produce pharmaceutical products which are in high demand in the international market.
- Shed light on shifting trends in global supply chain/production systems in hi-tech manufacturing and identify opportunities that are emerging for Bangladesh in this space.
- Deliberating on the challenges of losing privileges after LDC Graduation.
- Deliberating on how to effectively maneuver LDC Graduation and keep the sector prosperous.
