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Foreign pharmaceutical to invest $630 million in Seoul: Cheong Wa Dae
South Korean President Moon Jae-in, King Carl XVI Gustaf, Prime Minister Stefan Lofven and other participants of the South Korea-Sweden Business Summit at At Six, a Stockholm hotel, June 14. Yonhap
By Ko Dong-hwan
Global pharmaceutical company AstraZeneca said Friday that it will invest 746 billion won ($630 million) in South Korea over the next five years. The announcement came at a business summit held in Sweden on the occasion of President Moon Jae-in's state visit, according to Cheong Wa Dae.
Moon participated in the South Korea-Sweden Business Summit with King Carl Gustaf XVI, Prime Minister Stefan Lofven and hundreds of businesspeople from the two countries.
They included Leif Johansson, chairman of AstraZeneca, a Swedish-British pharmaceutical and biopharmaceutical firm.
He said his company would make the R&D investment from 2020 through 2025, a Cheong Wa Dae official told reporters.
This would be the largest-ever investment in the local bio-medical sector, the official added.
The firm's decision came at a time when the Moon administration is campaigning to develop the non-memory chip, future car and bio-health sectors as the country's future economic growth engines.
Delivering a keynote speech at the summit, Moon proposed that South Korea and Sweden strengthen bilateral partnerships in “future industries” including bio-health, eco-friendly vehicles and ICT.
Moon noted that AstraZeneca, in particular, is cooperating closely with South Korean medical institutions for the development of a next-generation anti-cancer medicine.
"I hope that my state visit this time will serve as a chance for bio-health cooperation between AstraZeneca and South Korea," Moon said.
More than 100 representatives from 52 South Korean companies, including Samsung Electronics, Hyundai Motor, LG Chem, NEXON Korea and Netmarble, took part in the event.
Participants discussed ways to expand investment and bolster bilateral business cooperation, Cheong Wa Dae said.
Moon earlier visited the Ericsson Studio for a 5G demo event.
Ericsson, a Swedish telecommunication company, installed Korea's first magneto telephone switch in the late years of the Joseon Dynasty (1392-1910). (Yonhap)