Uzbekistan and Ukraine sign memorandum on regulatory cooperation in pharmaceuticals

Visit of the Ukrainian delegation and negotiations

From October 19 to 21, a delegation of Ukraine led by Deputy Minister of Health Yevhen Honchar paid a working visit to Uzbekistan, the press service of the Ukrainian Embassy in Tashkent reported. The delegation included Deputy Minister of Economy and Environment Vitaliy Petruk, head of the Federation of Employers of Ukraine Ruslan Ilyichov, and representatives of pharmaceutical companies. Talks were held with the Ministry of Health of Uzbekistan, the leadership of the Agency for the Development of the Medical and Pharmaceutical Industry, the Center for Good Practices, and the Center for Pharmaceutical Product Safety. The parties exchanged experience in developing healthcare systems, discussing medical guarantee programs, drug cost reimbursement mechanisms, hospital procurement, and approaches to providing the population with affordable medicines. Separately, they agreed to develop partnership in healthcare and to remove regulatory barriers to supplying Ukrainian medicines to the Uzbek market.

The problem of GMP inspections

A key topic of the talks was maintaining the presence of Ukrainian pharmaceutical companies on the Uzbek market amid the ongoing war and new requirements introduced in Uzbekistan in August 2025: from January 1, 2026, local and foreign manufacturers are required to obtain a national GMP certificate for state registration of medicines and renewal of registration certificates. On October 13, the Ministry of Health of Ukraine reported that the current requirements of Uzbekistan provide for inspections directly at production sites, but due to the war and Russian shelling, conducting such inspections in Ukraine is difficult, which creates risks for the renewal of certificates of Ukrainian manufacturers and the supply of medicines to Uzbekistan. According to industry associations, Uzbekistan accounts for a significant share of Ukrainian pharmaceutical exports. Ukraine proposed allowing remote or hybrid inspections during martial law and temporarily extending the validity of existing GMP certificates. According to the Ukrainian Ministry of Health, Uzbekistan expressed its readiness to assist: the country is already preparing changes to legislation that will provide for the possibility of remote inspections of pharmaceutical enterprises. The issue was discussed with the director of the Agency for the Development of the Medical and Pharmaceutical Industry Abdulla Azizov; the possibility of a remote inspection format for uninterrupted supplies of Ukrainian medicines was considered.

Memorandum on regulatory cooperation

On October 21, First Deputy Director of the Center for Pharmaceutical Product Safety of Uzbekistan Nozim Berdiyev and Yevhen Honchar discussed expanding cooperation. Following the talks, the Center and the Ministry of Health of Ukraine signed a memorandum on regulatory cooperation in the field of medicines and medical devices. The document provides for the exchange of information, expertise, and practices to strengthen the capacity of the specialized institutions of the two countries and to ensure the quality, safety, and efficacy of medicines and medical devices entering the markets of both countries. Yevhen Honchar noted the prospects for creating joint production facilities, attracting investment, and technological partnership, emphasizing that a number of Ukrainian pharmaceutical companies are already implementing production projects in Uzbekistan, and thanked his Uzbek colleagues for their willingness to jointly seek solutions for the uninterrupted export of Ukrainian medicines.

Business interests and investment

Deputy Minister of Economy and Environment of Ukraine Vitaliy Petruk met with Deputy Minister of Investment, Industry and Trade of Uzbekistan Akram Aliyev. The parties discussed intensifying trade, economic, and investment cooperation, as well as the prospects for resuming the regular work of the intergovernmental commission of the two countries. The Ukrainian delegation visited the Tashkent Pharma Park cluster and the production site of the Lekhim company, which manufactures medicines in Uzbekistan. According to Gazeta, Lekhim, which opened its representative office in Uzbekistan in 2021, built a production complex near Tashkent; in February 2024, Ukrainian Ambassador Mykola Doroshenko reported that the installation of equipment at the plant was delayed due to difficulties in obtaining cadastral documents for the land. The project is estimated to be worth $42.5 million. At the same time, a group of entrepreneurs from the Vinnytsia region visited Uzbekistan: according to the embassy, three plants of companies from this region are already operating in the country. Business representatives held a round table with the participation of the Ministry of Agriculture, the Ministry of Construction, the Agency for Industrial Cooperation and Public Procurement, and other agencies. The embassy also reported that one of the medical centers in Vinnytsia, specializing in the treatment of children diagnosed with cerebral palsy and annually receiving more than 300 patients from Central Asia, proposed starting to provide professional care and perform surgical operations on the territory of Uzbekistan.

Significance of the event

The event is important primarily for the availability of medicines: according to estimates by Ukrainian industry associations, Uzbekistan accounts for a significant share of Ukrainian pharmaceutical exports, and the new GMP requirements from 2026 threaten the renewal of certificates and supplies. The signed memorandum and the preparation of Uzbek amendments on remote inspections directly affect the continuity of these supplies. For the Uzbek market, the retention of Ukrainian manufacturers and the development of localization, including the $42.5 million Lekhim project, mean an expansion of supply and investment in the pharmaceutical industry.