The B2B Conference & Expo along with National Arogya Summit, held in Guwahati recently under the aegis of Ministry of Ayush under India’s presidency of SCO, has successfully brought together 25 SCO countries to promote Traditional Medicine so as that it can contribute in the economic development, environment protection and achieve the goal of Health Security among the SCO nations. The event witnessed active participation of H.E. Dr. Thet Khaing Win Minister of Health, Myanmar, H.E. Safiyya Mohamed Saeed Deputy Minister of Health, Maldives and Dr. Munjpara Mahendrabhai MoS for Ayush and Participation of China, Russia and Pakistan in technical sessions through virtual mode was also noteworthy. The Conference and Expo cum Summit was inaugurated by Union Minister of Ayush and Ports, Shipping &Waterways Shri Sarbananda Sonowal.
India attained the SCO full member status in 2017 and after assuming the Presidency of SCO Council of Heads of State for the year 2023 on 17th September 2022 at Samarkand in Uzbekistan, Prime Minister Shri Narendra Modi had remarked that India would take the initiative for a new SCO Expert working Group on Traditional Medicine. Accordingly, Ministry of Ayush has taken various initiatives on Traditional Medicine during India’s SCO Presidency viz., organized virtual conference of experts and practitioners of Traditional Medicine, conducted First Expert Working Group (EWG) on Traditional Medicine wherein Draft Regulations of the EWG on Traditional Medicine were approved at expert level and will be further subjected to other respective country administrative procedures and finally to be adopted at the Head of the States Summit. It is in this light that the Guwahati SCO B2B Conference and Expo acquire importance and could successfully take the momentum further.
