Ijaz Iqbal Kakakhel
Chairman Senate of Pakistan, Syed Yousaf Raza Gilani on Thursday met with a high-level delegation from the Republic of Korea led by Mr. Cho, Chief Executive Officer of KOA-Bio, accompanied by senior representatives of KOA Corporation, Scale Sniper, and other leading South Korean companies working in the fields of biotechnology, artificial intelligence, healthcare innovation and advanced medical technologies.
Welcoming the distinguished delegation Chairman Senate said that Pakistan attaches great importance to its longstanding friendship with the Republic of Korea, a relationship built on mutual respect, trust and steadily expanding economic and technological cooperation.
Chairman Senate observed that Pakistan and the Republic of Korea have witnessed remarkable progress in bilateral relations over the past four decades, with cooperation expanding across trade, investment, technology, education and people-to-people exchanges. He noted that bilateral trade has grown substantially, but emphasized that significant untapped potential still exists, particularly in high-value sectors such as biotechnology, pharmaceuticals, healthcare, AI-enabled medical research, advanced manufacturing and information technology.
Highlighting the importance of parliamentary diplomacy in strengthening bilateral relations, Syed Yousaf Raza Gilani said that the Pakistan–South Korea Parliamentary Friendship Group serves as an effective institutional platform for promoting dialogue, legislative cooperation and closer engagement between the peoples of both countries. He expressed the hope that exchanges among parliamentarians, policymakers, researchers, academia and the private sector would further deepen scientific, technological and economic cooperation.
The Chairman Senate underscored Pakistan’s strong commitment to promoting research and innovation, stating that the country offers a growing network of universities, medical institutions, research centres and a talented pool of young scientists and healthcare professionals capable of supporting international collaboration. He encouraged long-term partnerships in biotechnology, biologics, precision medicine, pharmaceutical innovation and medical devices, including joint research programmes, researcher exchanges, clinical studies and technology partnerships aimed at developing innovative therapies for multidrug-resistant bacterial infections and emerging infectious diseases.
Referring to the transformative role of Artificial Intelligence in healthcare, Chairman Senate said that Pakistan is keen to collaborate with South Korean institutions in AI-assisted drug discovery, precision medicine, bioinformatics, genomic analytics, predictive disease surveillance and digital diagnostics.
Chairman Senate also invited South Korean companies to explore opportunities in medical device manufacturing, technology transfer, local assembly, biomedical engineering, laboratory modernization and digital healthcare solutions. He noted that Pakistan’s expanding healthcare infrastructure and increasing demand for advanced medical technologies present promising opportunities for mutually beneficial investment and industrial collaboration.
