Germany should not be dependent on one region for the supply of medicines and other medical products – that is the plan of the federal government. She is working on a national security strategy.
Barleben (dpa/sa) – Federal Foreign Minister Annalena Baerbock (Greens) emphasized the value of safe healthcare on Thursday during a visit to Saxony-Anhalt. Supply chains would have to be set up in such a way “that we are not completely dependent on one country or one region,” said Baerbock after visiting the pharmaceutical company Novartis in Barleben (Börde district).
During the corona pandemic, people “saw in a painful way” how the failure of supply chains could endanger people’s health. In the beginning, plastic gloves and masks were missing, later it was about antibiotics. A secure supply of medicines is important, said the Greens politician. This requires stronger networking in the health sector in Europe.
The CEO of Novartis in Germany, Heinrich Moisa, spoke out in favor of strengthening the pharmaceutical industry in order to be able to master future challenges. “Every tenth patient in Germany receives a drug here from Barleben, from this factory,” he said. According to the company, around 1300 employees work at the site.
Foreign Minister Baerbock wants to gather information and suggestions for a security strategy during her multi-day trip to Germany. On the fringes of the meeting, she also commented on Russia’s resumed gas supplies through the Nord Stream 1 pipeline. “Today underlines, even if there is an announcement that the gas is flowing again, that this war is not only opposed to weapons of Ukraine,” she said. Hybrid warfare means that energy dependencies are also used as a tool.
“Just as arbitrarily as the Russian President bombs other targets in Ukraine from one day to the next, he also deals with the question of food security, with the question of energy security.” If you take sanctions and measures, you have to prepare them in such a way that they can be sustained in the long term, emphasized the Green politician.
