The French export team in China and Latin America: two conferences to showcase the relevance of the ‘French Healthcare’ approach in markets with different challenges

15 October 2024 /

The association was a guest at two successive forums on healthcare export to China and Latin America, on 9 and 11 October 2024.

During these two sessions, Jean-Pierre Boffy, Chairman of French Healthcare Association, and Emile Jockey, Managing Director, highlighted the benefits of the collective approach to health exports promoted by French Healthcare Association, in regions with very different challenges.

Collective commitment as the best way to approach exporting to the Chinese market

The French Healthcare Alliance China, the bridgehead for French companies operating in China, which is also celebrating its tenth anniversary this year, organised a conference on ‘Opportunities and risk management in China’s healthcare markets’ on 9 October 2024 at Business France’s offices in Paris.

The aim was to discuss the challenges and opportunities facing companies in the healthcare sector wishing to set up or expand in China with a varied panel of public and private sector executives. While the difficulties of this market are real, linked for example to the complexity of the legislative framework and intellectual property issues, and have been exacerbated in recent years in the context of the fight against the Covid19 pandemic, the Chinese market is nonetheless unavoidable, requiring a fresh approach from French companies.

A succession of high-level speakers provided valuable insights into the challenges of exporting healthcare to China. Among them were representatives from the Ministry of Europe and Foreign Affairs, the Treasury Department, the French Embassy in China, the Delegation for European and International Affairs (DAEI) of the Social Ministries, and other partners of the Association such as Fréderic Girard, Chairman of France Biotech and of the Health Expertise Group of the French Foreign Trade Advisors. Several groups, members of the association promoting French Healthcare were also highlighted : bioMérieux, Sanofi, Servier et Thuasne.

Jean-Pierre Boffy, Chairman of the Association, closed the morning’s proceedings by underlining:

  • The power of the collective commitment of the French healthcare sector, guaranteed by French Healthcare Association, to develop long-term business relationships.
  • The usefulness of this type of meeting in France to reaffirm the right approaches in a major market, at a time when companies are wondering how to project themselves in China;
  • The need in such a market to maintain the uniqueness of the French approach to exporting;

A strategic, federated approach on export that can be adapted to several markets: the example of Latin America

This conference was followed the same week by a forum on Latin America organised at the Senate and coordinated by Business France, on October 11. A round-table discussion on health looked at the challenges facing South America’s ‘healthcare systems in the face of chronic and infectious diseases and an ageing population’.

The Association’s General Delegate, Emile Jockey, was invited to talk about the opportunities presented by the region’s markets and the French approach to exporting to these markets. Discussions with the panel of speakers provided an opportunity to:

  • Review French Healthcare Association’s export presence in the region, which is largely driven by the pharmaceutical industry, and the importance of French products and services being better able to project themselves onto these markets;
  • Underline the obvious: it is essential to adapt our approach to the specific characteristics of each country, depending on the different local healthcare systems and decision-makers;
  • To reiterate the strategic advantage represented by our French network approach, supported by public and private export players, which is promoted by French Healthcare Association.

The networking developed by the Association enables us to identify local needs as effectively as possible and to promote a competitive and relevant healthcare offering, all the more so in markets with very different characteristics.

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