Afghanistan and Iran have signed an implementation plan to strengthen regulation of food, medicine, and health products based on a 2023 cooperation agreement.
The plan was signed by Acting Director General of International Affairs of Food and Drug Administration of Iran (IFDA) Hamidreza Inanlou and Afghanistan’s visiting Deputy Minister of Public Health for Food and Drug Mawlawi Hamdullah Zahid in Tehran on Monday.
“It aims at improving cooperation in the fields of food, medicine and medical equipment including exchange of technical knowledge, specialised training, and improvement of testing methods,” IFDA News Agency said in a statement.
In Kabul, Afghanistan’s Ministry of Health also said in a post on X, “The plan focuses on fostering product registration, stronger import oversight, combating smuggling, and enhancing technical and laboratory cooperation”.
Iran has not officially recognised the Taliban-led Interim Government of Afghanistan, but it has maintained diplomatic ties with its eastern neighbour as it has been hosting an estimated number of 5-6 million Afghan refugees for 45 years.
Tehran is also fighting against narcotics smugglers, human traffickers and terrorists along its border with Afghanistan and Pakistan and has started construction of border walls.
According to Iranian officials, the plan provides a framework for expanding cooperation in the field of regulation, facilitating registration processes, transferring technical experiences and empowering human resources in the field of food, medicine and medical equipment.
Iran also announced that a memorandum of understanding on cooperation between the IFDA Reference Laboratories and the Quality Control Laboratory of Food, Medicine and Health Products of Afghanistan was concluded during Zahid’s visit.
Inanlou said the MoU provides the basis for the exchange of technical knowledge, specialised training, the improvement of testing methods, and synergy in the field of quality control of food, drugs, and health products.
“The implementation of this cooperation can lead to greater convergence of the regulatory systems of the two countries, the improvement of public health, and the development of sustainable regional cooperation in the field of food, drugs, and medical equipment,” he added.
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