HHS Secretary Mike Leavitt, Assistant Secretary for Health Admiral Joxel Garcia and HHS Food and Drug Administration (FDA) Commissioner Andrew von Eschenbach, M.D. recently visited Costa Rica to mark the opening of an HHS/FDA office to serve Latin America, which completes another step in the President's Action Plan on Import Safety.

The countries of Latin America are key trade partners for the United States, and the HHS/FDA presence in the region will allow the countries to work closely together. The office in Costa Rica is the first in a series in the Region, which will eventually include an HHS/FDA presence in South America and Mexico later in 2009.

"The countries of Central America, along with Panama and the Dominican Republic, create the third-largest U.S. export market in Latin America, and, every year, the United States imports millions of dollars in goods from these important trade partners," Secretary Leavitt said. "An HHS/FDA presence in the region will improve collaboration, strengthen our partnership and hasten the flow of quality goods to our markets."
Work on the office opening began in June 2008, when Secretary Leavitt and Health Ministers from the countries of Central America and Panama gathered at a summit in El Salvador to map out a broad framework for cooperation on food and product safety. Another outcome of that summit will be a Memorandum of Understanding, which the countries have been working on; the document has received widespread approval and is expected to be signed within the coming weeks.

The ceremony in Costa Rica follows the opening of an HHS/FDA office in Brussels to spearhead regulatory collaboration on food, drugs and medical devices with the European Commission; the introduction of three HHS/FDA offices in China, in Beijing, Shanghai and Guangzhou; and the announcement the department will open HHS/FDA offices in two cities in India. HHS/FDA is also pursuing options to open a location in the Middle East.

Part of the "Beyond Our Borders Initiative," the opening of the HHS/FDA office in Costa Rica is the next step in fulfilling the vision and strategy of the President's Action Plan on Import Safety and the HHS/FDA Food-Protection Plan, both launched in November of 2007.

The goal of the HHS/FDA "Beyond Our Borders Initiative" is to foster collaboration with regulatory authorities around the world, as well as to forge partnerships with industry on the safety of food, animal feed, drugs and medical devices. These efforts will increase the safety of products for consumers in the United States and around the world.

More Industry Headlines