The Ministry of Health and the Iranian Ministry of Industry, Mines and Commerce have announced their intention to cooperate in the fields of vaccines and medical equipment.

Health ministry secretary of state Or Vandine and Mohsen Rezaie, deputy director-general for Asia and Oceania at the Iranian ministry, met on March 10.

“The two officials and their delegations discussed strengthening bilateral cooperation, their intent to cooperate in the fields of vaccines and medical equipment and signalled their intention to sign a healthcare MoU [memorandum of understanding],” said a ministry statement.

“The position of the government, as well as the health ministry itself, is to welcome all investment in the health sector, in order to improve the quality of services to the public,” said Vandine, who provided her recommendations for the procedure of investing in the Kingdom’s pharmaceutical sector.

At the ministry’s recent annual meeting on its achievements of the past five years, Prime Minister Hun Sen said the strength of economic development depends on the development of human resources.

“The development of human resources depends on the good health of the people, which requires the provision of adequate, effective health services,” he said, while commending the ministry for its efforts to prevent the spread of Covid-19, which enables Cambodia to fully reopen.

Minister Mam Bun Heng said the ministry has accomplished many things over the past five years, though he acknowledged that further efforts are needed in several areas including health services, human resources and laboratory technology.