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Home > News > The Republic of Congo, ninth African signatory of the MEDICRIME Convention

Published June 05, 2023 / Public health

The Republic of Congo, ninth African signatory of the MEDICRIME Convention

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5 June, Strasbourg (France) - A delegation from the Republic of Congo led by Mr Gilbert Mokoki, Minister of Health and Population of the Republic of Congo, travelled to Strasbourg to attend, in the presence of Deputy Secretary General Bjørn Berge, the signing by Congo of the Council of Europe Convention on counterfeit medical products and similar crimes threatening public health, known as the MEDICRIME Convention.

In the presence of Council of Europe Deputy Secretary General Bjørn Berge (right), Mr Gilbert MOKOKI, Minister of Health and Population of the Republic of Congo (left), signed the Council of Europe Convention on counterfeit medical products and similar crimes threatening public health, also known as the MEDICRIME Convention, on 5 June 2023, © Council of Europe.

The Congo thus becomes the ninth African country after Guinea, Morocco, Burkina Faso, Benin, Ivory Coast, Niger, Mali and Togo to sign this penal convention, drawn up by the Council of Europe to strengthen international cooperation in the fight against the counterfeiting of medical products and related offences.

 

This signature is in line with the spirit of the Lomé Initiative against Medicines that Kill and its political declaration signed in January 2020, by Congo and five other states (Ghana, Niger, Uganda, Senegal and Togo), by which it commits to:

 

- Strengthen its legislative and legal framework to severely punish traffickers;

- Adhere to international treaties, such as the MEDICRIME Convention and the African Medicines Agency (AMA).

 

The Brazzaville Foundation is responsible for technical coordination of the Lomé Initiative, with the Togolese Republic acting as political coordinator.

The Congolese delegation was made up of (from left to right) Mrs. Jacqueline Nzalankazi, Director of Cooperation at the Ministry of Health and Population, H.E. Raphaël Mokoko, Ambassador Extraordinary and Plenipotentiary to the Benelux and the EU, H.E. Gilbert Mokoki, Minister of Health and Population, H.E. Aimé Clovis Guillond, Ambassador of the Congo to Switzerland, Permanent Representative to the UN, the WTO and other organisations international organizations in Geneva and Vienna, Mr. Randy Kamba, Economic Advisor to the Benelux and the EU. They were accompanied by Mr. Cédric Otse-Mawandza, Head of Mission of the Lomé Initiative at the Brazzaville Foundation (second from right), © Brazzaville Foundation.