The “Seminar on Chinese Medicinal Resources Development and Utilization for Lancang-Mekong Countries”, which was hosted by China Academy of Chinese Medical Sciences (CACMS), was held on September 1st. The seminar was held online and offline. Leaders like Wang Wentian, the Chinese Ambassador to Cambodia;Wu Zhendou, Deputy Director of the International Cooperation Department of the NATCM; Academician Huang Luqi, President of the CACMS, attended the opening ceremony.
Huang Luqi pointed out that the Lancang-Mekong River is the cradle of civilization and exchange channel for Southeast Asian countries, where traditional medicine and culture features “harmony in diversity”. Various forms of exchange and cooperation in the field of traditional medicine in this region took place. Lancang-Mekong countries had a long history of using traditional medicine and boast with wild medicinal plant resources. How to make full use as well as conserve and develop these resources is our common task. Fostering cooperation in traditional medicine among Lancang-Mekong countries is of great significance for cultural integration, mutual learning among civilizations, and the health and safety of people of all countries.
Wang Wentian said that the Lancang-Mekong cooperation (LMC) is a new sub-regional cooperation mechanism for countries in the Lancang-Mekong River Basin. China will support the other five Lancang-Mekong countries in implementing small and medium-sized projects that improve people’s well-being by establishing Lancang-Mekong Cooperation Special Fund. “Chinese materia medica benefit Lancang-Mekong countries” is an important program supported by the Special Fund in the field of traditional medicine. It is hoped that experts and scholars attending this seminar gain a better understanding of China’s traditional medicine and deepen Lancang-Mekong cooperation in the field of traditional medicine.
Wu Zhendou pointed out that traditional medicine in countries all over the world are rare and valuable assets for the international medical community. We need to conduct cooperative research and learn from each other to jointly promote the simultaneous development of traditional medicine and modern medicine. The seminar, hosted by the CACMS, is an important measure to implement the guiding principles of Premier Li Keqiang’s speech at the Third Lancang-Mekong Cooperation Leaders’ Meeting, which was held online. It is hoped that this seminar will spawn more seminars in the field of traditional medicine among the Lancang-Mekong countries, so that traditional medicine unique to various countries can contribute to the building of a Global Community of Health for All, and realize the vision of “Chinese materia medica benefit Lancang-Mekong countries”!
After the opening ceremony, Huang Luqi delivered a presentation entitled “Chinese Materia Medica Benefiting Lancang-Mekong Countries and Deepening Cooperation in Traditional Medicine”, introduced the achievements made in the resource survey of China, sharing the valuable experience of using TCM for the prevention and treatment of severe infectious diseases during the COVID-19 in China, and the recent cooperation in scientific research and information sharing in the global fight against COVID-1. He also introduced the progress, current achievement and work experience of China’s fourth national survey on Chinese materia medica resources. The trainees were also briefed on the tasks performed by the CACMS in the survey of medicinal plant resources in Myanmar, the survey on medicinal resources in Laos, the compilation of Lao herbal pharmacopoeia, and the development of new resources of Moringa.
The seminar elicited a positive response from the trainees from participating countries. HUOT Theang, Director of the Technical Bureau of the Cambodian Traditional Medicine Research Center; Aye San, Vice President of Mawlamyine University in Myanmar, and others expressed their heartfelt thanks to the Chinese government and the CACMS for holding this seminar, and expressed an ardent hope that the study and exchange among trainees of this seminar will deepen bilateral cooperation in the field of traditional medicine.
Funded by the Lancang-Mekong Fund with the name of “Chinese Materia Medica Benefit Lancang-Mekong Countries – Construction of Traditional Medicine Industry Bases in Six Lancang-Mekong Countries”, this seminar aims to promote exchanges and cooperation in the conservation, exploitation and utilization of medicinal plant resources among the Lancang-Mekong countries. There are 79 trainees from the Lancang-Mekong countries including Cambodia, Laos, Thailand, Myanmar, Vietnam, as well as Nepal and Tanzania participated in the seminar. In the following 21-days, they will learn the “classification and specimen identification of medicinal plants”, “techniques and methods of verification of materia medica”, “current status of research on quality standards of TCM medicines”, “standardized cultivation technology of Chinese medicinal crops”, and “techniques of survey on TCM resources”, etc. It has produced a large number of high-level personnel in the field of TCM in the world and promoted cooperation in TCM in many international projects.
Until now, CACMS has hosted over 100 international training programs in recent years, with more than 2,000 trainees. The training courses cover TCM theory and culture, TCM research progress, as well as TCM prescriptions, acupuncture, tuina and qigong (a system of deep breathing exercises) and other treatment techniques as well as TCM management. The trainees, include medical experts and scholars, came from about 90 countries and regions with different professionals like physicians, health management staff, traditional medicine practitioners, social workers, and interdisciplinary researchers. The programs have cultivated a number of high-level personnel in the field of TCM for the world and promoted international cooperation in TCM.
(Source: Website of China Academy of Chinese Medical Sciences)
