He made the remarks on expanding pharmaceutical trade with Iran in his meeting with Iranian Health Minister Saeed Namaki on Tuesday.

Expansion of Iran-Pakistan health and medical cooperation can help reduce infectious and non-communicable diseases in the region, he mentioned, adding that Pakistan can use Iran’s capacities in various fields of education, health, and medicine with the development of cooperation between the two countries.

Iran has taken very positive steps in the areas of health and public health coverage, he added, saying that, however, non-communicable diseases are the current problem of Iran and many other countries in the region.

Pakistani health minister noted that all regional countries should do their best to make a disease-free region, and the pharmaceutical trade is one way of reaching that point.

The 66th Session of WHO’s Regional Committee for the Eastern Mediterranean is one of the most important regional health events in the region, he said.

Participation in this event is a great opportunity for all regional countries to take advantage of new health-related information and technologies, as well as experiences of other countries, he added.

The Pakistani official expressed hope that Iranian health officials would travel to Pakistan in the near future to see the progress of country in the health sector.

The 66th Session of WHO’s Regional Committee for the Eastern Mediterranean is underway in Tehran with participation of high-level representatives from 222 countries.

The 4-day program includes the issues of eradication of poliomyelitis, health, environment, climate change, implementation of the Eastern Mediterranean vaccine action plan and regional malaria action plan, mental health care, implementation of the regional framework on cancer prevention and control, and implementation of the global action plan on antimicrobial resistance.