US Health Secretary to travel to India to advance import safety

Washington, Dec 31 (UNI) Health and Human Services Secretary Mike Leavitt will visit India in January to seek ways to enhance the quality and safety of Indian food, drugs and medical products exported to the United States and to build on the partnership in health and science between the two countries.

While in India, Mr Leavitt will visit sites that produce food, medicine and other products for export to the United States, as well as health care facilities delivering polio vaccine and care and treatment for HIV/AIDS and tuberculosis.

He will meet senior officials in the Indian Government, business leaders in the export community, as well as university students and faculty.

Secretary Leavitt chairs the President's Cabinet-level Import Safety Working Group, convened in July. In November, the Working Group delivered to President George W Bush its Action Plan to improve import safety, which included heightened interactions with exporting nations among its recommendations.

This trip will be the Secretary's fourth trip to Asia since taking office at Health and Human Services, according to a press release.

UNI