ISLAMABAD: Federal Minister for National Health Services Mustafa Kamal on Wednesday said that a Pakistan-China health care investment conference has resulted in the signing of 22 agreements worth about $629.5 million, adding that the country wants to attract foreign investment, expand pharmaceutical manufacturing and boost exports.

Speaking at a press conference here, Kamal said the agreements, signed at the Pakistan-China Pharmaceutical & Healthcare B2B Investment Conference held in Islamabad on July 17-18, covered vaccine production, active pharmaceutical ingredients (APIs), medical devices, clinical trials and other pharmaceutical subsectors. “I would like to congratulate the nation that in this two-day B2B conference, 22 companies signed the agreements worth $629.5 million,” Kamal said.

He said that 84 MoUs with an estimated value of approximately $800m were also signed during the conference, many of these MoUs, he said, are expected to mature into formal investment agreements.

Mustafa Kamal says agreements cover vaccine production, active pharmaceutical ingredients, medical devices and clinical trials

The two-day conference brought together 240 Chinese delegates representing 140 leading Chinese pharmaceutical companies and 430 Pakistani delegates from 210 local companies, making it one of the largest Pakistan-China engagements ever held exclusively for the pharmaceutical sector.

Kamal said the conference was part of the country’s broader efforts to deepen industrial cooperation with China and promote higher-value manufacturing.

Highlighting the government’s broader pharmaceutical reforms, the health minister said the country has, for the first time, developed and approved a National Local Vaccine Production Policy, creating the policy framework necessary for domestic vaccine manufacturing.

Currently, he said, the country administers 13 vaccines under its national immunisation programme, all of which are imported. The new policy, he said, aims to establish local production capacity, improve health security, and reduce dependence on import of medicines.

He said the agreements with Chinese companies included two in API manufacturing, eight in vaccine production, two in clinical trials, two in generic formulation injectables and eight in medical devices. He said Pakistan currently manufactures about 85 per cent of its medicines locally but imports around 95 pc of the active pharmaceutical ingredients used to produce them.

He said the government’s objective extends beyond signing of MoUs and focusing instead on legally binding commercial agreements that lead to tangible investments, technology transfer, industrial growth and employment generation.

Published in Dawn, July 23rd, 2026