The signing ceremony was held online between health minister Khairy Jamaluddin and Dr Yu Wen Ming, the commissioner of China’s national administration of traditional Chinese medicine.

In his speech, Khairy said the collaboration was a commitment to encourage, facilitate and promote cooperation between the two countries in terms of practice, raw materials and products, education, training and research.

“We hope that an effective communication network can be strengthened for the purpose of exchanging technical, scientific and regulatory information.

“It will facilitate the process of policy-making and strategies to ensure the safe and effective use of traditional medical services and products for the well-being of the public,” he said.

He said the ministry is committed to developing the field of traditional and complementary medicine with a view to integrating it with modern medicine to improve the quality of life of Malaysians.

“To achieve this, the traditional and complementary medicine industry will be professionalised by ensuring that products are safe, of quality and accessible to all.”

Yu said the MoU will strengthen the cooperation on traditional medicine between the two countries.