The Ethiopian Health Ministry has announced that it suspended the importation of pharmaceuticals from 11 Egyptian manufacturers.
The Ethiopian Health Ministry claims that the factories did not meet Ethiopian health standards, following a recent visit to Egypt.
It stated that a delegation from the Ethiopian Ministry inspected 13 companies and found that in 11 cases, prescribed rules were not being applied to the production of pharmaceuticals.
In response, the head of Export Council for Medical Industries, Maged George said that the result of the inspection has severe implications for Egyptian companies that rely on exports. He indicated that most of the companies are not solely reliant on Ethiopian trade, exporting to 15 countries in total.
George said that a committee has been formed, including members of the export council and the companies affected by the decision, in order to collect data on the Ethiopian market, medicines that are in demand, and the manufacturers currently operating there.
An urgent meeting will be held soon with the Ethiopian ambassador to Cairo to tackle the crisis and find solutions for the penalized companies.
According to George, the exports council is working on establishing a holding company to establish pharmaceuticals factories outside Egypt, or to place offices abroad to market the Egyptian pharmaceutical industry.
The Egyptian-Ethiopian relations are said to be cold and tense in the light of the Ethiopian insistence to continue on the establishment of the Grand Renaissance Dam denying its negative implications on Egypt’s water flow from the Nile river.
