CORRUPTION RISKS AND VAT PAYMENT HAMPER DEVELOPMENT OF LOCAL PHARMACEUTICAL PRODUCERS
PanARMENIAN.Net
May 25, 2010 – 14:01 AMT 09:01 GMT
Healthy Nation, Healthy Economy two-month campaign kicked off in
Yerevan on May 25 to improve the perception of Armenians toward
domestically-produced medicines.
The campaign is organized by the USAID-funded Competitive Armenian
Private Sector (USAID/CAPS) Project, Union of Armenian Medicine
Producers and Importers and the GXP Center of Excellence.
The campaign includes an event aiming to increase awareness of the
domestic pharmaceutical production industry. The event will bring
together around 50 representatives of the field, including pharmacists,
doctors, students and consumers.
Head of the Industry Department of the Armenian Ministry of Economy
Hayk Mirzoyan said that some progress has been recorded in medicine
production. Specifically, the medicine production amounted to AMD
2.5bln by the end of 2009, while it totaled AMD 500mln during the
first quarter of 2010. “8% and 14% growth was recorded in medicine
production in 2009 and first quarter of 2010 respectively,” Mirzoyan
told journalists in Yerevan.
Development Director of Esculap pharmaceutical company Armen
Harutyunyan noted that there are numerous unresolved problems in the
field. “Great number of contraband medicines is sold in Armenia’s
market,” he said.
According to the specialist, the law on VAT payment adopted in
2001 hampers development of local medicine production, as local
output’s price is not competitive. He also pointed to dishonest work
of Armenia’s customs service, saying that it also contributes to
appearance of cheap medicines in the market.
He added that numerous producers have launched lobbying activity since
2002 to improve their work conditions and the perception of Armenians
toward domestically-produced medicines. However, it has not yielded
desirable results yet.
“Only consolidation of efforts will allow achieving positive results,
and today’s event aims to deepen the lobbying activity,” Harutyunyan
said.
From: A. Papazian