Expo to help promote Chinese medicine

 

China Daily
22 June 2005

MACAO: The Pan-Pearl River Delta Forum and Exhibition on Chinese Medicine officially began yesterday morning in Macao with the aims of promoting the use of Chinese medicine and regional co-operation on the modernization of the industry.

More than 400 representatives of Chinese medicine makers, research institutions and officials of relevant government departments throughout the PRD region and some foreign countries attended the opening ceremony held at Observation Tower in downtown Macao.

Organized by the Science and Technology Commission of the Macao SAR Government and staged by Macao Centre for Productivity and Technology Transfer, the three-day event received assistance from the China Centre for Science and Technology Exchange and relevant departments of the 10 provincial and autonomous regional governments on the mainland, while Macao University and Science and Technology University of Macao also gave their support.

The forum part of the gathering is not open to the public, unlike the exhibition, which showcases Chinese medicine products as well as achievements of related research by major manufacturers and R&D facilities based in the Pan-PRD region.

In his opening speech, member of Macao Science and Technology Commission and convener of the Working Group for Science and Technology Intermediaries, Dr Eric Yeung, said the event was the first professional exchange of this calibre that Macao had ever staged on behalf of the Pan-PRD science and technology community.

The organizers hoped this event would help establish Macao as a platform for efforts to standardize technologies and internationalize the Chinese medicine industry, Yeung said, adding that Macao's good relations with the Pan-PRD region, Southeast Asia, European countries and Portuguese-speaking nations put the enclave in a vantage position to play the important role.

He also noted that more than 4 billion people worldwide use natural medicine, accounting for 80 per cent of the world population, while the total sales value of herbal medicine last year reached US$30 billion, of which over US$16.5 billion came from Chinese medicine. And its market earnings are expected to increase by 10-15 per cent annually.

Seven well-known experts from China, the United States, Britain, Egypt, Sweden, Republic of Korea and Australia made keynote speeches yesterday afternoon, and a series of specialized workshops are scheduled for today and tomorrow.

Occupying 10,000 square metres, the exhibition features seven standard booths showcasing the making of modern Chinese medicine from pre-processing, production to shelf-ready products, including health foods as well as prescription and over-the-counter varieties.