In a speech he delivered on Monday, October 5, during the Second International Conference of the National Council for the Ethics of Pharmacists, Minister of Pharmaceutical Industry, Wassim Kouedri, stated that Algeria intends to establish a strategic pharmaceutical platform to supply African countries with medicines.
In his speech at the conference entitled “National Sovereignty and African Openness for Sustainable Health,” hosted by Algeria, Kouedri stressed that the pharmaceutical industry has witnessed a remarkable development in recent years in Algeria.
Today, the fabric of the pharmaceutical industry includes about 230 pharmaceutical institutions, while the value of pharmaceutical production reached $4.9 billion in 2025. The percentage of covering market needs with national production reached 82% in terms of value, with 95% of production recorded in the full manufacturing system.
In the context of consolidating industrial integration in the field of pharmaceutical production to cover the needs of African and international markets, Gouedri referred to the recommendations of the African Ministerial Conference on the local production of medicines and health technologies in Africa, held in Algeria in November 2025, and stressed that the conference is an important station for strengthening continental cooperation, by supporting local production, developing partnerships and transferring expertise, and enhancing regulatory convergence between African countries.
His work culminated, the minister says, in the adoption of the “Algeria Declaration,” in addition to the signing of several contracts to export Algerian pharmaceutical products with several African countries, including Mauritania, Mali, and Senegal. In addition to concluding several cooperation agreements between the National Agency for Pharmaceuticals and its counterparts in various African countries, which facilitates the process of interchange registration of medicines and ensures their availability to patients.
On another level, Kouedri stressed that great importance is attached to studying and accompanying all African initiatives, especially those led by the African Medicines Agency and the African Center for Disease Control and Prevention, because of the opportunities that these initiatives can provide to enhance continental cooperation in the pharmaceutical field, and to develop joint mechanisms that would support local production and ensure the abundance, quality, effectiveness and security of medicines and medical supplies in the countries of the continent.
Kouedri stated that Algeria is working to strengthen cooperation with international bodies and organizations, to develop a project for an African strategic pharmaceutical platform in Algeria, to support the provision of essential medicines and health products to African countries, especially vaccines and priority products.
This platform will work to gather and integrate national capabilities in the fields of pharmaceutical production, organization, logistics, and technology transfer, in a way that enhances South-South cooperation and supports health security for the continent, which would contribute to building a more integrated African pharmaceutical system, according to the same source.
