Afghanistan and Iran have signed an implementation plan aimed at strengthening the regulation of food, medicines, and health products.
The plan was signed during an official visit to Iran by Afghanistan’s Deputy Minister of Public Health for Food and Drugs, Mawlawi Hamdullah Zahid.
It is based on a cooperation agreement concluded in April 2023 between Afghanistan’s former National Food and Drug Authority and Iran’s Ministry of Health and National Food and Drug Organization, following the completion of legal procedures.
The document was signed in Tehran by Mawlawi Hamdullah Zahid and Iran’s Deputy Minister of Health and Head of the National Food and Drug Organization, Dr. Mehdi Pir Salehi.
The implementation plan focuses on accelerating product registration processes, strengthening oversight of food and medicine imports, combating smuggling, encouraging Iranian investment in Afghanistan, enhancing technical capacity, digitalizing regulatory systems, and expanding laboratory cooperation.
The plan will be implemented according to a defined timeline and is expected to improve access to safe and effective medicines, while reducing the entry of substandard and smuggled products into the country.