Washington, Jan 1 (IANS) US Health Secretary Mike Leavitt will travel to India in January to seek ways to enhance the quality and safety of Indian food, drugs and medical products exported to the US.
While in India, he will also build on America’s partnership with India on health and science, the US Health and Human Services Department said in a news release Monday.
Leavitt will visit sites that produce food, medicine, and other products for export to the United States, as well as health care facilities that are delivering polio vaccine and care and treatment for HIV/AIDS and tuberculosis.
He will meet senior officials in the Indian government, business leaders in the export community, as well as university students and faculty.
Leavitt chairs the President George W. Bush’s Cabinet-level Import Safety Working Group, convened in July. In November, the group delivered its action plan to the president to improve import safety, which included heightened interactions with exporting nations among its recommendations.
This will be Leavitt’s fourth trip to Asia as health secretary.