I came across one of the more interesting yet small details swirling around international trade today when I read a story (here) by the online news part of the ABC (that is the Australian Broadcasting Corporation - not the other ABC) that:
"Chinese medicine was the subject of a side letter from Australia's Trade Minister Andrew Robb to the Chinese government, which outlined plans to strengthen cooperation on traditional medicine and could open the door for hundreds of contractual service providers from China to be officially registered to work [in Australia]".
Not surprisingly the story is largely focused on the ligitimation that may or may not come with the inclusion of Chinese medicines in such deals and the possible impact on Australian health (the same health protected by Plain Packaging).
But the story also includes a suggestion that "the Chinese government has set globalisation of traditional Chinese medicine as a major priority and they've invested a lot of funding into this process."
Its all very interesting across a whole range of trade law issues (subsidies, TBT, SPS, and even environmental issues to extent the medicines are derived from endangered species).
