Varanasi (Uttar Pradesh) [India], February 4 (ANI): Chief Minister Yogi Adityanath on Saturday said that Uttar Pradesh has immense potential in the pharmaceutical sector and is set to emerge as a major pharmaceutical centre within the country in the times to come as it provides adequate manpower, better road connectivity, adequate land bank and safe environment and sector-wise policies.

Chief Minister Yogi while addressing the experts, stakeholders and entrepreneurs associated with the pharma sector at a National Seminar on Pharma Sector held at Asha College of Pharmacy and Research Centre, invited them to invest in Uttar Pradesh.

He added that the six G-20 meetings to be held in Varanasi, three in Lucknow and one each in Agra and Gautam Buddh Nagar as well as the upcoming Global Investors Summit are big opportunities for the state to explore opportunities to boost the pharmaceutical industry in order to expand its presence in the global medicine market.

The Chief Minister said, "About 30 crore people depend on the health services of UP. The only two major drug markets between Lucknow and Patna are in Varanasi and Gorakhpur. Medicines are supplied to Patna from Varanasi and to Kathmandu from Gorakhpur. Therefore, a lot needs to be done in this field. Along with research work, we will also have to build new institutions."He mentioned the ongoing construction of the Medical Device Park in the Yamuna Expressway Industrial Development Authority area over 350 acres of land and the work on Bulk Drug Park on 2,000 acres in Lalitpur in this context.

Emphasising that India was very rich in terms of talents, which proved its mettle on the global stage whenever given a chance, the CM encouraged the attendees, including experts and different stakeholders from the pharmaceutical sector, to boost research in this huge field of medicine, ensure quality and get patents filed promptly so that UP's presence in the global market increased and India was able to capture the global market. He added that India and UP also provide big markets to the world.

CM Yogi said, "Every fifth-sixth person in the world is from India and every fifth-sixth person in India is from UP. So, if India has great potential globally, UP is a state of immense possibilities within the country. As India's march to progress continues, it has become the fifth largest economy of the world and is also heading G-20, the group of 20 most influential countries of the world that control 90 per cent of innovations and patents and 85 per cent of the world's GDP." (ANI)