Vietnam is estimated to import pharmaceutical materials and products worth 710 million U.S. dollars this year, up 10 percent over last year, a local official told Xinhua Thursday.

The imported materials and products mainly come from France, Germany, Italy, Poland and the United States, the official from the Drug Administration under the Health Ministry said, identifying himself Huy Hung.

Vietnam has pledged to create more favorable conditions for foreign pharmaceutical enterprises by ensuring transparent policies on drug management, opening market, fair competition, and their distribution and business rights.

Now, some 60 percent of pharmaceuticals available in the Vietnamese market are imports, mainly antibiotic, digestive, antipyretic and anodyne medicines, he said.

Vietnam, home to 57 pharmaceutical export-import enterprises and 680 medicine distributors, imported 396 million dollars worth of pharmaceutical products in the first nine months of this year, posting a year-on-year rise of 9.2 percent.

The country's pharmaceutical production, which grew 15 percent to 331.8 million dollars in the nine-month period, is estimated at 460 million dollars in 2006, up 17 percent over 2005.

Vietnam's per capita medicine consumption is expected to rise to 11.2 dollars in 2006 from 9.8 dollars in 2005, Hung said.

Source: Xinhua