Minister Of Health Budi Gunadi Sadikin Invites G20 Business Actors To Invest In The Health Sector

BALI - Minister of Health Budi Gunadi Sadikin invited business people from G20 member countries to invest in the health sector.

He explained that a number of agreements in the health and financial sectors that had been reached during Indonesia's G20 Presidency this year opened up many promising business opportunities.

"First, the business opportunity is the US$10 billion Global Pandemic Fund which must be prepared for the world to face a future pandemic," Budi said as quoted by Antara, Sunday, November 13

The pandemic fund or pandemic fund is a concrete collaboration that was achieved by the G20 this year, with a commitment to raise US$1.4 billion so far from 24 countries and international institutions.

Through collaboration with the World Bank, the pandemic funds will be allocated for health emergency management with a fair and equal global mechanism.

"This opens up business opportunities for handling medical emergencies in the diagnostic equipment, vaccine, and pharmaceutical industries which are growing rapidly globally," said Budi.

He explained the business potential in building genome sequencing laboratories to identify the emergence of new pathogens, which could endanger the global health system.

"This is an opportunity for you to switch to biotechnology (business) because this pathogen is the biggest threat to humanity. The government has to spend a lot of money on this sector," said Budi.

Another business opportunity in the health sector is the establishment of a digital health certificate recognized by the World Health Organization to ensure the mobility of people and goods during a pandemic, as well as research and development of vaccines, medicines, and diagnostic tools in seven G20 countries namely South Africa, Turkey, Saudi Arabia, Indonesia, Brazil, and Argentina.

"In Indonesia, President Joko Widodo has been very clear that for every government procurement, we will buy from companies that produce domestically. So now you know where to invest," said Budi.