Cabinet approves signing of agreement between India, Peru on cooperation in medicinal plants field

The Union Cabinet approved on Wednesday signing of an agreement between the National Medicinal Plants Board, Ministry of AYUSH, and the National Institute of Health, Ministry of Health of the Republic of Peru, on cooperation in the field of medicinal plants.

Considering the fact that both countries have rich medicinal plants biodiversity and medicinal plants based indigenous traditional system of medicines, and recognising the existing friendly and cooperative relations, the proposed agreement will further enhance the bilateral cooperation between the two sides in the area of medicinal plants, an official statement said.

This will be of immense importance to both the countries. This agreement will provide structured framework for cooperation between the two sides on medicinal plants, it said.

The activities between the two parties will start immediately after signing of the agreement. The initiatives taken by the two countries will be in accordance with the terms of reference of the agreement and will continue till it remains in operation, the statement said.

There is no additional financial implication involved. The financial resources necessary to conduct research, training courses, conferences or meetings will be met from the existing allocated budget and existing plan schemes of the National Medicinal Plants Board, Ministry of AYUSH, it said.

India is one of the richest countries in the world in terms of biodiversity and more than 7,000 species of plants are estimated to have medicinal usage in folk and documented systems of traditional medicines like Ayurveda, Unani, Siddha and Homoeopathy (AYUSH System of Medicine), the statement said.

The Republic of Peru is one of the Latin American countries which are the biodiversity hotspots in the world, and like India, Peru is also having rich biodiversity of medicinal plants and the medicinal plants based traditional medicine practices are prominently practiced by by the indigenous people, it said.

Considering the richness of medicinal plants biodiversity and uses of these resources in Indigenous Traditional Systems of medicines in both the countries and to strengthen the bilateral cooperation, the proposed agreement on cooperation in the field of medicinal plants is envisaged, the statement said.