GROUPS OF COUNTRIES AND THEIR MEMBER STATES WITH REFERENCE TO PHARMACEUTICAL BUSINESS MARKET

This article is related to various association or group of countries and its members. Some of the group countries are formed or termed based on their specific geographic locations. Some groups like PEPFAR are formed based on prevalence of single disease throughout the country and to provide aid to such countries in reducing the disease. Countries mentioned in this article are referred on daily basis in fields of regulatory, business development, marketing, commercial etc. Below are the few groups of countries to be discussed in brief:

• ASEAN

• APAC

• CIS

• EUROPE

• FWA

• GCC

• LATAM

• MENA

• ZAZIBONA

ASEAN countries:

Long form of ASEAN is Association of South East Asian Nations. ASIAN countries are much different and should not be confused with ASEAN countries. ASEAN countries follow a common format for registration of dossiers which is termed as ACTD guidelines. Following are 10 member nations of ASEAN countries.

1. Brunei Darussalam	6. Myanmar
2. Cambodia	7. Philippines
3. Indonesia	8. Singapore
4. Lao PDR (Peoples Dominic Republic)	9. Thailand
5. Malaysia	10. Vietnam

APAC countries

APAC stands for Asia Pacific countries and includes regions from East Asia, South Asia, Southeast Asia and Oceana. Below are the main countries which are part of APAC.

1. Afghanistan	11. Fiji	21. North Korea
2. Australia	12. India	22. Pakistan
3. Bangladesh	13. Indonesia	23. Peru
4. Bhutan	14. Japan	24. Philippines
5. Brunei Darussalam	15. Laos	25. Russia
6. Myanmar	16. Malaysia	26. Singapore
7. Cambodia	17. Maldives	27. South Korea
8. Canada	18. Mongolia	28. Sri Lanka
9. China	19. Nepal	29. Thailand
10. Chile	20. New Zealand	30. Vietnam

CIS countries

CIS long form is Commonwealth Independent States. It was created in December 1991. Below are the countries which are member states of CIS

1. Azerbaijan	6. Moldova
2. Belarus	7. Russia
3. Kazakhstan	8. Tajikistan
4. Kyrgyzstan	9. Uzbekistan
5. Armenia

EUROPE

Europe is one of the highly regulated markets in drug regulatory field. With a scope for huge business opportunities, all major pharmaceutical companies focus on Europe markets. Below are the member states of European Union:

1. Austria	11. Germany	21. Malta
2. Belgium	12. Greece	22. Netherlands
3. Bulgaria	13. Hungary	23. Norway
4. Croatia	14. Iceland	24. Poland
5. Cyprus	15. Ireland	25. Portugal
6. Czechia	16. Italy	26. Romania
7. Denmark	17. Latvia	27. Slovakia
8. Estonia	18. Liechtenstein	28. Spain
9. Finland	19. Lithuania	29. Sweden
10. France	20. Luxembourg	30. United Kingdom

FWA countries

FWA stands for French West Africa. These are African countries which were colonies of France before second world war and hence is the name French West Africa. following are the countries of French West Africa:

1. Senegal	5. Benin
2. Mali	6. Burkina Faso
3. Guinea	7. Niger
4. Ivory Coast	8. Mauritania

GCC counties

GCC means Gulf Cooperation council. Six countries of Gulf region came together for effective coordination, integration and interconnection in order to achieve unity. Below are the six member states of GCC:

1. United Arab Emirates (UAE)	4. Sultanate of Oman (Oman)
2. Kingdom of Bahrain (Bahrain)	5. State of Qatar (Qatar)
3. Kingdom of Saudi Arabia (Saudi Arabia)	6. State of Kuwait (Kuwait)

LATAM counties

LATAM is Latin-American countries. 13 dependencies and 20 countries make up LATAM group.

1. Brazil	14. Honduras
2. Mexico	15. Paraguay
3. Columbia	16. El Salvador
4. Argentina	17. Nicaragua
5. Peru	18. Panama
6. Venezuela	19. Costa Rica
7. Chile	20. Puerto Rica
8. Guatemala	21. Uruguay
9. Ecuador	22. Guadeloupe
10. Cuba	23. Martinique
11. Bolivia	24. French Guiana
12. Haiti	25. Saint Martin
13. Dominican Republic	26. Saint Barthelme

MENA countries

MENA stands for Middle East and North Africa countries. 19 member states constitute for MENA as follows

1. Algeria	11. Morocco
2. Bahrain	12. Oman
3. Djibouti	13. Qatar
4. Egypt	14. Saudi Arabia
5. Iran	15. Syria
6. Iraq	16. Tunisia
7. Jordan	17. United Arab Emirates
8. Kuwait	18. West Bank and Gaza
9. Lebanon	19. Yemen
10. Libya	20. Morocco

ZAZIBONA countries

The ZAZIBONA process is a collaboration between national medicines regulatory authorities (NMRAs) in Botswana, Namibia, Zambia, and Zimbabwe. So as the name suggests, below are the 4 countries of ZAZIBONA

1. Zambia	3. Botswana
2. Zimbabwe	4. Namibia

List of References

1.    https://asean.org/asean/asean-member-states/

2.       https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Asia-Pacific

3.       https://apcss.org/about-2/ap-countries/

4.       http://www.cisstat.com/eng/cis.htm

5.       https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Commonwealth_of_Independent_States

6.       https://www.ema.europa.eu/en/partners-networks/eu-partners/eu-member-states/national-competent-authorities-human

7.       https://geography.name/french-west-africa/

8.       https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/French_West_Africa

9.       https://www.gcc-sg.org/en-us/AboutGCC/MemberStates/Pages/Home.aspx

10.   https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Latin_America

11.   https://www.worldatlas.com/articles/which-countries-make-up-latin-america.html

12.   https://www.investopedia.com/terms/m/middle-east-and-north-africa-mena.asp

13.  https://www.worldbank.org/en/region/mena

14.   https://www.mcaz.co.zw/index.php/latest-news/16-zazibona-collaborative-medicines-registration-process