Building a Bridge for Cross-Border Connectivity, Pioneering a New Chapter in Southeast Asian Healthcare

Shanghai Cooperation Organization Time  

— Member organizations of the Health and Sustainable Development Working Committee of the SCO Multifunctional Economic and Trade Platform successfully facilitated the smooth launch of the second installment in the Global GO Healthcare Going‑Abroad series.

A shared vision for development drives joint construction, while industrial interconnectivity paves the way for mutual benefit. Grounded in the high‑quality, in‑depth advancement of a new landscape for Belt and Road cooperation, and leveraging the Shanghai Cooperation Organization’s inherent strengths in multilateral economic, trade, and health‑related collaboration, the Southeast Asia Medical Products Export Supply‑Demand Matchmaking Session—a key event within the Global GO Outbound Services series—was successfully held on May 18 at the Business Service Center in Beijing’s Daxing District.

This event marked the second installment of the global GO Series. Building on the successful outcomes of last year’s South Asia Medical Device Matchmaking Conference, it further refined its service processes by establishing a proactive needs‑assessment framework, a public‑private supply‑demand profiling and matching system, and a one‑on‑one closed‑door negotiation mechanism for precise matchmaking. The event brought together 36 overseas industry representatives from Nepal, Thailand, Pakistan, and South Korea, alongside 32 Chinese exhibitors and nearly 200 attendees, spanning health authorities, industry associations, medical institutions, and cross‑border buyers. On-site, multiple cooperation agreements were reached, effectively streamlining international trade channels in the healthcare sector and helping Beijing’s biopharmaceutical industry expand into global markets.

Under the guidance and support of the Shanghai Cooperation Organization’s Multifunctional Economic and Trade Platform, the Health‑Related Sustainable Development Working Committee of the platform has fully leveraged its role as a bridge and liaison. Its member organizations—the Yizhuang Science and Technology Chamber of Commerce and Global JuJie International Exhibition (Beijing) Co., Ltd.—have each capitalized on their respective strengths and expertise. With the coordinated leadership of the Beijing Municipal Council for the Promotion of International Trade, and in collaboration with local Party and government bodies—including the Organization Department of the Daxing District CPC Committee, the District Science and Technology Commission, the District Bureau of Commerce, the District Investment Promotion Center, and the Management Committee of the Biomedical Industry Base—as well as industry platforms, they have jointly established a regular, global GO‑oriented service platform for the medical‑health industry. This has resulted in a normalized working framework characterized by city‑level overall coordination, district‑level collaborative synergy, empowerment from the SCO platform, and the on‑the‑ground implementation of specialized institutions.

This event is anchored in the robust demand of the Southeast Asian healthcare market, seizing the opportune window presented by the implementation of Thailand’s new government’s medical procurement plan. Leveraging a normalized, multi‑stakeholder coordination mechanism, it brings together nearly one hundred domestic enterprises spanning the upstream and downstream sectors of medical equipment, diagnostic and therapeutic devices, and medical consumables, establishing a dedicated exhibition zone for supply‑demand matchmaking. The event systematically sets up three key platforms: centralized product showcases, one‑on‑one precision business negotiations, and closed‑door consultations on priority projects. It also extends targeted invitations to an official delegation from Thailand’s Ministry of Public Health, hospital management associations, and professional buyers from numerous countries across South and Southeast Asia, creating a pragmatic forum that features real‑world product demonstrations, face‑to‑face discussions, and specialized closed‑door seminars—thereby breaking down barriers to information exchange between supply and demand.

The event focuses on the practical needs of Chinese enterprises expanding overseas, offering end-to-end implementation services: first, it provides a precise analysis of Southeast Asia’s healthcare industry policies and market procurement trends, serving as a professional reference for companies venturing abroad; second, it establishes targeted matchmaking channels between domestic and international suppliers and buyers, ensuring efficient alignment between procurement requirements and corporate offerings; third, it facilitates the signing of memoranda of understanding and the conclusion of letters of intent, solidifying short-term trade‑cooperation outcomes; and fourth, it organizes on‑site visits and exchanges with industrial parks, laying a robust foundation for long‑term supply‑chain collaboration. By delivering tangible resource connections and comprehensive support, the initiative helps local medical‑device companies capture untapped opportunities in the Southeast Asian market while bolstering the internationalization of the Daxing District’s pharmaceutical and health‑care industry cluster, enhancing both its quality and efficiency.

Going forward, the Health and Sustainable Development Working Committee of the SCO Economic and Trade Platform will continue to leverage the advantages of the SCO’s multilateral cooperation network, coordinating with member institutions, municipal and district authorities, and industry platforms. It will maintain the regular operation of the Global GO Overseas Service Platform and systematically plan and organize specialized medical‑industry matchmaking events in Belt and Road partner countries, including those in South Asia and Southeast Asia. By focusing on precision‑driven matchmaking, professional services, and sustained operational continuity, the committee will further facilitate the mutual flow of high‑quality resources and the complementary leveraging of industrial strengths in the healthcare sector, thereby injecting long‑term momentum into the sustainable development of regional health‑related economic and trade cooperation.

(Contributed by the Platform’s Committee on Sustainable Development of Public Health)