Drug manufacturers on February 14 signed a deal with the government to set up a Tk 4.5 billion pharmaceutical park to boost exports and cut dependence on imported raw materials. The Bangladesh Small and Cottage Industries Corporation signed a memorandum of understanding with the Bangladesh Association of Pharmaceutical Industries(BAPI) to build the park for at least 50 drug industries in Munshiganj.

The industries will produce active pharmaceutical ingredients, or raw materials, for the countries more than 160 drug plants. The aim is to boost drug exports and also reduce dependence on imported raw materials. Bangladesh’s more than Tk 50 billion pharmaceutical sector mostly depends on imported raw materials to produce drugs for the local and international markets. The factories import nearly 90 per cent of their raw materials from India, China and some European countries.

Experts said the park would increase the country’s competitive advantages in drug exports, making Bangladeshi drugs cheaper than its competitors. Under a WTO agreement, Bangladesh has been allowed to export patented drugs to its fellow least developed countries until 2016. But so far the country exploited a fraction of the windfall despite being the only LDC country to have huge drug manufacturing facilities.