Vietnam is fully committed to strictly protecting intellectual property rights as demanded in a regulation on database security for pharmacies, said Health Minister Tran Thi Trung Chien.
Mrs Chien referred to a regulation issued recently by her ministry to guarante privacy of the profiles of medicine makers and traders, which was hailed by foreign pharmaceutical firms operating in Vietnam at a meeting in Hanoi on October 18.
Participants said the document is of primary importance and sensitive to drug research and producing businesses, especially to multi-national groups for their huge invention possession.
The Health Minister also assured foreign investors of Vietnam's policy to strictly follow the roadmap of tax reduction for pharmaceuticals and cosmetics and protect the rights to open branches and to direct import-export operations.
The Vietnamese Government also prioritises the construction of three biological laboratories in Hanoi, the central city of Da Nang and Ho Chi Minh City to discover low quality medicines, Mrs Chien said.
The conference was held in preparation for Vietnam's accession to the World Trade Organisation, for which the country has just finished the last round of negotiations.
Up to September of 2006, Vietnam had licensed 312 foreign pharmaceutical firms for trading in medicine and pharmaceutical materials. The foreign investment sector has met 60 percent of domestic market demand for drugs and become the major supplier of pharmaceutical materials for domestic production.
VNA/VOVNews
