UK agrees deal with Vietnam to remove pharmaceutical trade barriers
Britain launched the new strategy last month, promising a nimbler approach compared to the emphasis it placed on full-fledged free trade agreements following its departure from the European Union.
Vietnam will hasten the registration of new medicines and vaccines, while recognising approvals from more regulators, including Britain's Medicines and Healthcare products Regulatory Agency, the British government told Reuters in a statement. The deal is expected to be confirmed later on Monday.
"The removal of pharmaceutical barriers with one of our closest trading partners in Asia is a boost for the UK pharmaceutical industry and proof our Industrial and Trade Strategies are already delivering," British trade minister Douglas Alexander said.
The deal could be worth 250 million pounds ($337 million) to the British pharmaceutical sector over the next five years, the government added.
The UK-Vietnamese Joint Economic and Trade Committee will meet in London on Monday and also discuss financial services and renewable energy.
Britain has taken a tougher line on some other sectors, however, with steel imports from Vietnam set to be restricted under a new quota regime.
Life sciences, including pharmaceuticals, are a priority sector under Britain's new industrial strategy, which was also launched last month.
However, that plan has been delayed by a dispute over drug pricing with the British pharmaceutical sector, which says the government needs to value medicines more fairly and adjust the payments they make back to the health service.
($1 = 0.7415 pounds)
Hashtags
Try Our AI Features
Explore what Daily8 AI can do for you:
Comments
No comments yet...
Related Articles
Reuters
23 minutes ago
- Reuters
Bank of England's Bailey backs IMF to help fix problems in global economy
LONDON, July 15 (Reuters) - Bank of England Governor Andrew Bailey said on Tuesday the International Monetary Fund had a key role to play in tackling the buildup of risky imbalances in the world economy, many of them coming from the United States and China. In a speech he was due to give to Britain's finance elite, Bailey acknowledged the concerns of U.S. President Donald Trump's administration about the danger of IMF overreach. But the BoE boss said attempts to fix the problems in the world economy - chief among them the big U.S. trade and current account deficits alongside China's big surpluses and its weak domestic demand - had to be resolved at the multilateral level. "If it is only done at the national level, we will get less good policymaking," he was due to tell the annual Mansion House dinner. Bailey has previously stressed the importance of the IMF and other multilateral bodies at a time of heightened trade tensions following Trump's imposition of high import tariffs and his threats to go further. The IMF recently criticised another part of Trump's economic programme - its plans for massive tax cuts. U.S. Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent has accused the Fund of straying too far from its core economic stability and surveillance missions. Bailey said countries running big deficits were typically the ones that come under the most pressure in financial markets. "We have seen market disturbance this year. We have to be highly alert to financial stability risks – something that I can assure you we are following closely," he said. Bailey also said China should free up its domestic demand as part of a global plan to tackle "excess imbalances before dangerous levels of trade restrictions come into play, and before we face the prospect of difficult adjustment with macroeconomic volatility and financial instability." Bailey said the IMF should consider using its powers to convene talks with member countries - chief among them the U.S. - as well as working with the World Trade Organisation to produce a nuanced assessment of the global trading system. "I think it helps to remember that the key challenge we all face is to increase growth in the world economy: to grow the pie to support living standards for the people we serve, all of the time," Bailey said. "It is as simple as that." He said he would use his new role as head of the Financial Stability Board - grouping global financial regulators - to develop with the IMF resilience tests for the global financial system, including firms such as hedge funds and banks. Bailey also said in his speech that he favoured using digital payment technology for retail payments and bank accounts as a next step for the industry. He said he was unconvinced about the need for a retail central bank digital currency, and that stablecoins were not a substitute for commercial bank money.
Reuters
38 minutes ago
- Reuters
Beneath China's resilient economy, a life of pay cuts and side hustles
BEIJING, July 16 (Reuters) - Chinese state firm employee Zhang Jinming makes up for a 24% cut to his salary by delivering food for three hours every night after work and on weekends - and hopes he can avoid awkward encounters with colleagues. "Being a part-time delivery person while working for a state-owned enterprise isn't exactly considered respectable," said Zhang, whose real estate firm pays him 4,200 yuan ($585) per month, down from 5,500 yuan. While China has supported economic growth by keeping its ports and factories humming, the lack of real demand has hit profits, in turn squeezing workers like Zhang through wage cuts and forcing them to moonlight. "There's just no other way," added the 30-year-old, who rides his scooter until 11.30 pm, making 60-70 yuan per evening. "The pay cut has put me under huge pressure. Many colleagues have resigned and I took over their workload." China's economy posted robust 5.2% growth in the second quarter, showing its export-heavy model has so far withstood U.S. tariffs. But beneath the headline resilience, cracks are widening. Contract and bill payment delays are rising, including among export champions like the autos and electronics industries and at utilities, whose owners, indebted local governments, have to run a tight shop while shoring up tariff-hit factories. Ferocious competition for a slice of external demand, hit by global trade tensions, is crimping industrial profits, fuelling factory-gate deflation even as export volumes climb. Workers bear the brunt of companies cutting costs. Falling profits and wages shrank tax revenues, pressuring state employers like Zhang's to cut costs as well. In pockets of the financial system, non-performing loans are surging as authorities push banks to lend more. For the most part, the lopsided nature of growth in the world's second-largest economy is a product of policies that favour exporters over consumers. Economists have long urged Beijing to redirect support to domestically focused sectors, such as education and healthcare, or boost household consumption - for instance, by bolstering welfare - or risk a slowdown in the second half of the year. Max Zenglein, Asia-Pacific senior economist at the Conference Board of Asia, describes China as a "dual-speed economy" with strong industry and weak consumption, noting the two are related. "Some of the economic challenges including low profitability and deflationary pressure are largely driven by continued capacity expansion in the manufacturing and technology sectors," said Zenglein. "What's unfolding now" in the trade war with the U.S. is "coming back home as a domestic issue." Frank Huang, a 28-year-old teacher in Chongzuo, a city of more than 2 million people near the Vietnam border, in the indebted Guangxi region, says his school has not paid him in two-to-three months, waiting for authorities to provide the funds. "I can only endure, I don't dare to quit," said Huang, who relies on parents when his 5,000 yuan paycheck doesn't arrive. "If I were married with a mortgage, car loan and child, the pressure would be unimaginable." Another teacher from Linquan, a rural county of 1.5 million in eastern China, said she is only receiving her basic 3,000 yuan monthly salary. The performance-based part of her pay, usually about 16%, "has been consistently delayed." "After I pay for gas, parking and property management fees, what's left isn't enough for groceries," said the teacher, who only gave her surname Yun for privacy reasons. "I feel like begging," added Yun. "If it weren't for my parents, I would starve." There is no data on payment delays in the government sector. But among industrial firms, arrears have grown quickly in sectors with a strong state presence, either through industrial policy or - like in utilities - through direct ownership. Arrears in the computer, communication and electronic equipment sector and in autos manufacturing - two priorities for China's economic planners - rose by 16.6% and 11.2%, respectively, in the year through May, faster than the 9% average across industries. Overdue payments were up 17.1% and 11.1% in the water and gas sectors. These figures suggest liquidity stress and are a side-effect of authorities prioritising output over demand, said Minxiong Liao, senior economist at Lombard APAC. "The result should be slower growth for these champion sectors," in the future, he said. With incomes under pressure, Beijing is struggling to meet its pledge to lift household consumption and worries are growing that persistent deflation will further damage the economy as consumers defer spending. Huang Tingting quit her waitress job last month after business at her restaurant - and most shops nearby - plummeted in April, at the height of U.S.-China trade tensions. Responding to plunging revenues, the restaurant owner asked staff to take four unpaid leave days every month. "I still have to pay rent and live my life," said the 20-year-old from the eastern Jiangsu province, an export powerhouse that's outpacing national growth, explaining why she quit. In the past, though, she could find another restaurant job in a day or two. This time, she's been unemployed since June. One recruiter told her a job she applied for had more than 10 other candidates. "The job market this year is worse than last year," said Huang. ($1 = 7.1799 Chinese yuan)
Finextra
an hour ago
- Finextra
UniCredit taps Wise Platform for cross-border retail payments service
Italian bank UniCredit has partnered Wise to develop an international payment service for retail customers. 0 UniCredit is the first major bank in Europe to tap into the Wise Platform, which is powered by more than 70 licenses and six direct connections to payment systems globally, enabling cross-border payments to some 160 countries and over 40 currencies, with 65% of transfers settled in 20 seconds or less. From this month, Italian retail customers will be able to enables international transfers from euros into several foreign currencies, with the same speed and simplicity as domestic payments, from the bank's app. Initially, payments can be sent to recipients in selected countries, including the UK (GBP), Switzerland (CHF), Hong Kong (HKD), Singapore (SGD) and India (INR), with more currencies in development. The service will be rolled out to customers in other countries in the near future. Raphael Barisaac, global head, payments and cash management, UniCredit, says: 'Our customers expect simple, fast and transparent solutions at an affordable cost, even when it comes to complex transactions such as international wire transfers. This new service was created to meet exactly these needs and represents a fundamental step in this direction.'
