Bilateral health policy

The goal of this bilateral health policy is to advance healthcare and maintain good public health by means of collaboration and exchange of experience based on mutual interest. This includes the exchange with neighbouring countries, e.g. on cross-border events, with EU member states on projects and issues at European level as well as with focus countries worldwide on a wide range of different healthcare topics.

Particular attention is paid to countries with which the Federal Government carries out inter-governmental consultations (including France, Spain, the Netherlands, Poland, Israel, Japan, China, India and Brazil) and to countries and regions that have come into focus for overarching reasons (e.g. Ukraine, the Western Balkans). Close bilateral relations are also maintained with the neighbouring countries at a political and technical level. Furthermore, the BMG has structured bilateral relations with more than 40 countries that are underpinned by Joint Declarations of Intent regarding the Cooperation in the Field of Health. These Joint Declarations include agreement on cooperation projects in many diverse and specific areas of action.

The topics and focus areas of the bilateral work are very broad and are based on shared interest. In recent years, bilateral cooperation has involved areas such as pandemic preparedness and readiness, cross-border healthcare, digitalisation within the healthcare sector, system solutions in healthcare, knowledge transfer in healthcare professions, matters relating to organisation, quality and funding for long-term care as well as regulatory questions regarding the marketing authorisation of medicinal products and medical devices.