Korea and Brazil Commit to Expanding Health Cooperation Through New MOU

- Signed in the presence of President Lee Jae Myung and President Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva, strengthening cooperation in biohealth, digital health, and advanced therapeutics -

The Ministry of Health and Welfare (MOHW, Minister Jeong Eun Kyeong) signed and exchanged a Memorandum of Understanding (MOU) on health cooperation between Korea and Brazil on Monday, February 23, in the presence of President Lee Jae Myung of the Republic of Korea and President Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva of the Federative Republic of Brazil.

   * Signatories: (Korea) Jeong Eun Kyeong, Minister of Health and Welfare

             (Brazil) Alexandre Rocha Santos Padilha, Minister of Health

This MOU was concluded on the occasion of President Lula’s state visit to Korea. It is significant in that it expands the scope of cooperation into future-oriented strategic sectors, including biohealth, digital health, and advanced therapeutics, reflecting changes in the global health environment and the updated policy priorities of both countries since the previous MOU was signed in 2015.

Under the MOU, the two sides agreed to strengthen cooperation in a range of areas, including enhancing production capacity for biopharmaceuticals and vaccines; promoting digital health innovation, including artificial intelligence (AI) and telemedicine; advancing research and clinical collaboration in advanced therapeutics; and supporting the training of healthcare professionals.

Following the exchange ceremony, Minister Jeong Eun Kyeong met later that afternoon with Minister Alexandre Rocha Santos Padilha at the Lotte Hotel in Jung-gu, Seoul, to discuss measures to expand Korea–Brazil health and medical cooperation, including the effective implementation of the MOU.

This meeting marked the first bilateral talks between the two countries’ health ministers to be held in Korea since their meeting at the 2024 G20 Health Ministers’ Meeting in Brazil. Both sides shared a strong consensus on the need to expand vaccine and pharmaceutical production capacity to respond to global health crises and to transform healthcare systems by leveraging digital technologies. They also exchanged policy experiences in these areas.

Recognizing the complementary strengths and development potential of the two countries’ biohealth industries, both sides also agreed to expand cooperation in digital healthcare to create synergies between Korea’s AI-driven medical innovation experience and Brazil’s healthcare digitalization policies.

Minister Jeong Eun Kyeong stated, “The signing of this MOU and today’s meeting mark an important step in elevating health and medical cooperation between our two countries and reaffirm our shared commitment to addressing rapidly changing global health challenges together. We hope this will serve as a foundation for advancing toward a strategic partnership that creates mutual benefits based on our respective strengths.”

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