Dear Colleagues, Dear Friends

 On behalf of the European Medicines Agency, I am delighted to extend our heartfelt congratulations to the PMDA on the significant occasion of your 20th anniversary. This milestone is a testament to PMDA’s unwavering commitment to safeguarding public health and ensuring the availability of safe and effective medical products in Japan.
 Over the past two decades, the PMDA has demonstrated exemplary leadership and dedication in the regulation of medical products. Your rigorous standards, innovative approaches, and collaborative spirit have significantly contributed to the advancement of healthcare not only in Japan but also globally. The PMDA’s efforts in promoting patient safety, fostering innovation, and enhancing regulatory science are truly commendable. PMDA and EMA share a common goal of protecting and improving public health.
 Our collaboration over the years has been instrumental in addressing global health challenges and ensuring that patients have timely access to high-quality medical products. The mutual exchange of knowledge, expertise, and best practices between our agencies has strengthened our regulatory frameworks and enhanced our ability to respond to emerging health threats.
 As we celebrate this significant milestone, we reflect on the numerous achievements and contributions of the PMDA. Your proactive engagement in international regulatory initiatives, such as ICH, IPRP and ICMRA has played a pivotal role in shaping global regulatory alignment. These efforts have facilitated the development of innovative therapies and medical products, ultimately benefiting patients worldwide.
 Looking ahead, we are confident that the PMDA will continue to excel in its mission to bring more effective and safer medical products to the public as quickly as possible. The EMA remains committed to strengthening our partnership with the PMDA, fostering greater collaboration, and addressing future challenges together. We believe that our continued cooperation will lead to even greater achievements in the field of regulatory science and healthcare.
 Once again, congratulations on your 20th anniversary. We wish all at the PMDA continued success in all your endeavours and look forward to many more years of fruitful collaboration.

With best wishes

 First let me start by expressing that WHO congratulates warmly PMDA’s 20th anniversary. I have been personally involved, in my different capacities (including the EU-Japan MRA in 2002), in privileged positions to understand the evolution of Japan’s regulatory ecosystem.
 WHO and the regulatory communities ecosystem recognises that PMDA has played a significant role over the past 20 years as Japan's National Regulatory Authority in regulating medicinal products and medical devices. In addition, through working with regulators around the world, PMDA continued over these decades to protect patient safety and health in the world as well.
 In particular, WHO and PMDA have been working together under improved relationship centred in building regulatory capacity and more specifically in the Asian region. This is in line with World Health Assembly Resolution (WHA 67.20) on strengthening regulatory systems for medical products (RSS) and the work of PMDA's Asian Medicines and Medical Devices Training Centre (PMDA-ATC), which provides training to regulatory authorities in the Asian region. We mutually provide facilitators and co-operate in effective capacity building and training activities in Asia and hope to expand that scope.
 I strongly hope that Japan will continue to be one of the role models for global regulators and that we continue to work together to achieve universal health coverage around the world, through strengthening regulatory capacity. I wish PMDA’s continued advancement and the best successes in the future.