Business Association of Georgia responds to the PM’s announcement on the opening up the Turkish pharmaceutical market and declares that it is a timely decision. The Prime Minister predicts medicine price reduction.
"Georgian Business Association continues to study the challenges in the pharmaceutical market and analyze the needs, as well as challenges of member companies. According to the Association, the initiative of the Government of Georgia and, in particular, the Prime Minister, to "open the market" with Turkey is a reasonable and timely step.
During carrying out the reform, it is necessary to protect and take into account the interests of all parties. We believe that it is important to review the existing legislation and make appropriate, fair decisions, which will target both citizens and companies operating in the pharmaceutical sector. We are pleased that a competition agency is involved in the process of regulating the quality and cost of medicines, which has detailed information on the situation in the pharmaceutical market.
During the meeting with Prime Minister Gharibashvili, the member companies of the Georgian Business Association discussed the need to "open the market", which would put on an equal footing the business operators working in the pharmaceutical sector, as well as the population that will be able to receive cheap and quality medicines.
We hope that this process will be dynamic and constructive, which is very important for the population, as well as for companies operating in this sector and for the business as a whole, because it is necessary for businesses to have a sense of security and fairness, which will positively reflect on the attraction of investments," the statement reads.
Yesterday, Georgian Prime Minister Irakli Garibashvili spoke about pharmaceuticals prices at the first government meeting for 2022, emphasizing that decisions will be made this week.
"Another pledge concerns pharmaceuticals prices. Decisions on this issue will be made this week. We expect that this step will reduce prices significantly. The report on the pharmaceuticals market has been finalized by the Competition Agency. Newly appointed Minister Zurab Azarashvili already met with the Head of the Competition Agency to plan further steps. We also plan to open up to the Turkish market and receive high-quality medications, and that, as we expect, will reduce pharmaceuticals prices. We will also develop a bill to better the situation even further," Irakli Garibashvili said.
