보건복지부 영문홈페이지

The World Bio Summit Strengthens

International Cooperation in Healthcare

- The World Bio Summit 2023 brings together health ministers from Saudi Arabia, Ukraine, Laos, and officials from WHO and CEPI to discuss greater cooperation in healthcare -

2nd Vice Minister Park Minsoo of the Ministry of Health and Welfare (MOHW) held bilateral meetings with Vice Minister of Health for Planning and Development Abdulaziz AlRamaih of Saudi Arabia, Deputy Minister of Health Ihor Kuzin of Ukraine, Vice Minister of Health Phayvanh Keopaseuth of Laos, Chair of Coalition for Epidemic Preparedness Innovations (CEPI) Board Jane Halton and WHO Assistant Director General of External Relations and Governance Catharina Boehme to discuss key issues of interest and ways of cooperation in healthcare.

The meetings were arranged to discuss and explore avenues of cooperation with Korea in healthcare at the request of each organization participating in the “World Bio Summit 2023” in Seoul.

At his second meeting with Vice Minister Abdulaziz AlRamaih of Saudi Arabia after the first meeting in 2022, 2nd Vice Minister Park discussed the revision of the memorandum of understanding (MOU) to reflect recent mutual interests in the healthcare sector, including collaboration in the fields of biotechnology and digital health. He also asked for Saudi Arabia’s continued interest in the training program for healthcare professionals and attraction of Saudi Arabian patients to Korea, through which the two countries have forged cooperation.

Minister Park and Deputy Minister of Health Ihor Kuzin of Ukraine talked about the possibility of signing an MOU to further expand cooperation in healthcare, and Deputy Minister Kuzin asked for Korea’s interest in providing assistance for Ukraine’s recovery from the prolonged war in Ukraine.

At the bilateral meeting with Vice Minister of Health Phayvanh Keopaseuth of Laos, Minister Park emphasized that Korea is most actively involved in healthcare-related ODA projects in Laos among all Asian countries and that Laos is a core cooperation partner that is most actively participating in the Dr. LEE Jong-wook Fellowship Program, a healthcare workforce training program for developing countries. He also noted that Laos is the next chair of the ASEAN Health Ministers Meeting, and expressed Korea’s support for Laos’ role, pledging greater cooperation.

CEPI Chair Jane Halton briefly explained CEPI’s latest activities including its 5-year plan (CEPI 2.0) and talked about the two events that CEPI participated in during the summit, i.e. Session 4 (Accelerating Pandemic Vaccine Development and Manufacturing) on November 21, the second day of the summit and Korea-CEPI R&D Workshop that was held concurrently as a side event to the summit. Particularly, they agreed that the Korea-CEPI R&D Workshop has taken shape as an annual forum for promoting bilateral cooperation and exchanges, marking its third year since its launch in 2021.

At the meeting with WHO Assistant Director General of External Relations and Governance Catharina Boehme, Minister Park suggested that they resume the Korea-WHO policy dialogue that has been halted since it was first held in 2019 to ensure closer policy cooperation. Following Boehme’s introduction of the Investment Round, WHO’s mid to long-term funding plan, Minister Park and Catharina Boehme discussed how the WHO would be able to maintain financial sustainability. In addition, they talked about different ways to further strengthen cooperation between the Korean government and the WHO, including the WHO’s recruitment of qualified and talented Korean to work at its headquarters.///