Trade, Investment and Cooperation in Health Product and Services in the Asia-Pacific

The designation employed and the presentation of the material in the Working Paper do not imply the expression of any opinion whatsoever on the part of the Secretariat of the United Nations concerning the legal status of any country, territory, city or area or of its authorities, or concerning the delimitation of its frontiers or boundaries. [...] In this context, the paper analyses the coverage and commitments in the health sector in existing regional and bilateral trade agreements, frameworks, forums and other arrangements in the Asia-Pacific region. [...] Introduction The Asia-Pacific region, comprising of more than 50 countries,4 is the largest region in the world in terms of area and has the world’s most populous countries like China (1.44 billion people) and India (1.39 billion people).5 The region, which has developed, developing and least developed countries (LDCs), was one of the fastest growing regions in the world prior to the coronavirus (. [...] The need to use technology to identify the spread of the disease, and to collect and collate data on the infected and vaccinated have resulted in many collaborations between technology firms and the healthcare sector. [...] In the case of the pharmaceutical sector, the regional value addition is 50 percent in certain agreements, like in the Agreement between Japan and the United Mexican States for the Strengthening of the Economic Partnership, signed in September 2004.