A Mission to Explore Southeast Asia’s Hot Healthcare Market

September 28, 2022
Arun Venkataraman is the Assistant Secretary of Commerce for Global Markets and Director General of the U.S. and Foreign Commercial Service

Last week, ITA wrapped a trade mission covering two of the hottest topics in trade: healthcare and the Indo-Pacific Economic Framework for Prosperity (IPEF). As a leader in healthcare innovation, the United States has much to offer consumers across Southeast Asia—a region of almost 700 million people! With President Biden’s focus to increase our competitive edge in Asia, the timing couldn’t be better for a trade mission to explore new market opportunities on the other side of the Pacific.

To that end, last week I led 12 U.S. companies on a Healthcare Trade Mission to Southeast Asia, namely Thailand, Malaysia, and Vietnam, which are all upgrading their healthcare regulations and infrastructure, making them ideally suited to benefit from high-quality U.S. products and services.

Thailand

Thailand, which has a robust medical travel market, has recently passed extensive medical device regulations that U.S. companies in the healthcare space need to know about. Since U.S. healthcare firms and manufacturers have a strong reputation for quality, after-sales service, and training support, they are well positioned to assist Thailand in fulfilling its needs. Our trip was a fruitful one, with U.S. businesses engaging in one-on-one meetings with potential buyers and partners, which will foster growth in both countries.

Malaysia

Malaysia was one of the first Southeast Asian economies to upgrade their medical device regulations. In 2021, the United States, thanks to our high-quality equipment industries, has maintained our position as the top exporting country of medical devices to Malaysia. Malaysia is now expanding its infrastructure, and because of the inroads we’ve made, we are well-positioned to offer innovative solutions such as digital health, telemedicine, imaging equipment, in-vitro diagnostics, cardiology, and genomics sequencing for precision medicine.

Vietnam

Also, U.S. health care trade in Vietnam has perhaps the greatest potential for development, as Vietnam’s growing middle class is driving increasing demand for high-quality healthcare infrastructure and services, and in recent years the country has also enacted decrees to increase oversight over the medical device sector. The high quality that U.S. companies provide, as well as the innovative healthcare solutions that U.S. companies have available, position the United States as a top choice for Vietnam. Through trade with Vietnam, U.S. companies can reduce the length of hospital stays while facilitating outpatient care and treatment, thereby contributing to lower health care costs while saving and extending countless lives.

Singapore

Another major purpose of my trip was to promote U.S. trade in this strategic and growing region, which is why I made an important stop before the mission to Singapore, a country viewed by many companies as a trade gateway to Asia. Last year we launched the U.S.-Singapore Partnership for Growth and Innovation (PGI), an initiative designed to significantly expand our economic partnership with Singapore and the ASEAN region, beginning in four areas: digital economy, energy and environmental technologies, advanced manufacturing, and health care. I had the opportunity to meet with Singaporean officials and U.S. and Singaporean businesses to not only hear about the progress we’ve made in these areas, but also how we can further expand bilateral commercial collaboration and build on nearly two decades of growth bolstered by our historic free trade agreement!

While the healthcare sector is not an explicit IPEF focus area, my travel to these countries also allowed me to underscore that the pursuit of IPEF commitments among Indo-Pacific partners has strong potential to deepen commercial ties and increase benefits across the economy, including for health care companies, workers, and consumers. This includes, among other areas: goals of building an environment of trust and confidence in the digital economy and advancing resilient and secure digital infrastructure and platforms; minimizing disruptions and vulnerabilities in the supply chain; and promoting transparency and integrity in government procurement practices.

Given IPEF as well as our bilateral initiatives, Southeast Asia will continue to be an important region of the world to watch in weeks and months ahead. Next month we’ll be leading an Advanced Manufacturing Trade Mission to Indonesia, Singapore, and Japan. In November, we will lead an Aerospace and Defense Trade Mission to Indonesia. And we’ll be returning to the region in March 2023 when Trade Winds, the largest U.S. government annual trade mission, heads to Bangkok with mission stops to five other countries in the region. Visit the Trade Winds web page to learn more!