In the health sector, Indonesia and the United Arab Emirates (UAE) have a MoU on Cooperation in the Health Sector which was signed on January 12, 2020 and is valid for 3 years. One of the agreed areas of cooperation is to encourage the health sector investment portfolio.

In line with the signed MoU on Health Cooperation, Assistant Undersecretary of Public Health Policy & Licensing Ministry of Health and Prevention (MoHAP) United Arab Emirates (UAE), Amin Hussain Al-Ameeri paid a working visit to Indonesia on July 18-21, 2022.

Indonesian Minister of Health Budi Gunadi Sadikin, accompanied by Director General of Pharmaceuticals and Health Equipment Lucia Rizka Andalucia, welcomed the working visit aimed at identifying opportunities for joint ventures between Indonesia and the UAE that focus on the production of drugs, vaccines and medical devices at the Business Forum meeting.

The Business Forum meeting on the visit of MoHAP United Arab Emirates (UAE) was held to discuss bilateral cooperation between the two countries related to the pharmaceutical industry and medical devices. "Today, we will start collaboration in the pharmaceutical and medical device industry with the UAE," said Indonesian Minister of Health Budi Gunadi Sadikin.

The Minister of Health mentioned that one of the main focuses of the cooperation between the two countries is to build more research and distributed production capacity on vaccines, therapeutics, and diagnostics (VTD), which will provide better equity and access for each country when the next pandemic hits.

This is because entering the third year of the pandemic, the world is still facing COVID-19 and the threat of its new variants. For this reason, access to VTDs and improvements to the health care system are vital components that need to be strengthened to anticipate the surge in COVID-19 cases and end the acute phase of the pandemic.

Dengan posisi Indonesia sebagai rumah bagi lebih dari 5 produsen vaksin, 220 produsen farmasi, serta lebih dari 650 produsen alat kesehatan yang sebagian besar telah diakui standarnya secara global, serta pengalaman mengekspor produk ke seluruh dunia, Menteri Kesehatan optimis Indonesia memiliki potensi yang sangat besar untuk membantu memenuhi kebutuhan dunia.

This collaboration is expected to pave the way for strengthening a global health architecture that is resilient to the threat of future health disasters. "We believe bilateral partnerships are one way to achieve better health care, more resilient health systems, and contribute to global efforts in dealing with future pandemics," the Minister said.

The Minister of Health hopes that this collaboration will be a great opportunity and a good start in the framework of strengthening the global health architecture which was depressed by the COVID-19 pandemic. He hopes that cooperation in the health sector between the two countries can continue to be improved. "I believe and hope that through this collaboration, it can open up enormous opportunities for strengthening the health systems of the two countries," hoped the Minister of Health.

Through this working visit, a delegation from the UAE consisting of MoHAP and Chief Executive Officer (CEO) of the UAE pharmaceutical and medical device industry conducted factory visits to 8 pharmaceutical, raw material and medical device industries consisting of PT Kalbe-Dankos Farma, PT Etana Biopharmaceutical, PT Karya Daya, PT Kalbio Global Medika, PT Oneject Indonesia, PT Ferron Par Pharmaceuticals, PT Kimia Farma Sungwun P., PT Bio Farma.