Company News

By Zafar Hussain

BEIJING, Jul 2 (China Economic Net) - The Embassy of Pakistan in Beijing hosted a TVET Symposium on Pharmaceuticals, Healthcare and Biotechnology on July 1, 2026, marking the latest step in a series of sector-specific vocational education dialogues aimed at deepening Pakistan-China economic cooperation.

The symposium, themed "Building Partnerships for Skills Development, Industry Integration and Investment Facilitation," follows earlier sessions this year on agriculture, electrical equipment and home appliances, and ICT and telecom. It serves as a key preparatory platform for the Pakistan-China B2B Investment Conference on Pharmaceuticals, Healthcare and Biotechnology, scheduled for July 17–18 in Karachi.

In his welcome remarks, Pakistan's Ambassador to China, Khalil Hashmi, highlighted Pakistan's demographic strength — more than 250 million people, 63 percent of them under 30 — as a major asset for its expanding pharmaceutical, healthcare and biotechnology sectors.

For the first time, Chinese vocational institutions will join enterprises at the Karachi conference, participating in business matchmaking sessions and the inaugural Pakistan-China TVET Partnership Forum, held alongside the investment conference. Through this dual-track approach, vocational institutions are set to move beyond their traditional role as education providers to become active partners in investment promotion, industrial upgrading and workforce planning.

The event featured a keynote from Jin Xiaolei, Deputy Director, Department of Vocational Capacity Building, China's Ministry of Human Resources and Social Security, who said that as cooperation between China and Pakistan continues to deepen across economic, trade, and people's livelihood sectors, vocational skills cooperation has become a promising new area of growth in bilateral relations.

In video remarks, ,Ahsan Iqbal, Pakistan's Federal Minister for Planning, Development and Special Initiatives, called for joint ventures in pharmaceutical manufacturing, vaccine production, medical devices and digital health to strengthen Pakistan's industrial capacity and reduce import dependence.