On Mar 31, 2012, Mr. Pascal Lamy, Director General of the World Trade Organization (WTO) visited the state-of-the-art manufacturing facilities of Beximco Pharmaceuticals Ltd. located at Tongi in Gazipur.

He was accompanied by Mr. Salman F Rahman, Vice Chairman of Beximco Group, Md. Ghulam Hossain, Commerce Secretary and a delegation of high level government officials.

Mr. Nazmul Hassan, MP, Managing Director of Beximco Pharma and Mr. Rabbur Reza, Chief Operating Officer along with other senior management team received the delegates at the Company facilities. Mr. Nazmul Hassan, MP updated the WTO Chief about the Company’s activities as well as current status and future prospects of Bangladesh pharmaceuticals industry.

During the visit, Mr. Lamy told that WTO would do a periodical review at the end of 2013 regarding a potential extension of Trade Related aspects of Intellectual Property Rights (TRIPS) agreement waiver for countries including Bangladesh for another 10 years. This extension will be granted on grounds of public health situation and technology transfer for producing patent drugs in the less developed countries (LDCs). The current agreement is set to expire on December 31, 2015.

At a press conference after the plant visit, Mr. Lamy said to the journalists, “I am quite impressed by the state-of-the-art facilities which manufacture drugs for the poor people of the country at prices that suit their pockets.” Mr. Lamy also appreciated Bangladesh’s exports to African countries. “It is good to see that these facilities are set up for producing medicines for the people living in other poor countries also,” he said referring to Beximco Pharma’s medicines export to Myanmar and many African countries.

Replying to a query on WTO's future, Mr. Lamy said that they are reviewing a number of issues currently. "We are properly and effectively administrating the existing rulebook." The WTO members, particularly, the United States and China are considering to formulate the 9th edition of rulebook, he added.