1. Deputy Minister for Multilateral and Global Affairs Kweon Ki-hwan met with CEO Sania Nishtar of the Global Alliance for Vaccines and Immunization (Gavi) on September 5, during the latter’s visit to Korea. The two sides discussed ways to strengthen cooperation between the Korean government and Gavi.

    ※ Gavi is a public-private partnership established to improve health in developing countries through the expansion of vaccine availability and the development of new vaccines.

2. Deputy Minister Kweon took note that Gavi has contributed to increasing access to vaccines in developing countries by encouraging private sector investment and lowering vaccine prices through large-scale advance purchases of vaccines.

3. Deputy Minister Kweon also appreciated that Korean companies are participating actively in the global health procurement market through Gavi, as could be seen from their vaccines accounting for 11% of the total procured by Gavi last year. He requested CEO Nishtar’s special attention and support to ensure that cooperation between Korean biotech companies and Gavi broaden even further.

    ※ Korean biotech companies participated in Gavi’s vaccine procurement efforts by providing 910 million U.S. dollars worth of vaccines from 2012 to 2023.

4. CEO Nishtar expressed her gratitude for the Korean government’s continuous contribution to strengthening the global health system, and her hope for expanded cooperation with the Korean government and companies in implementing the Gavi 6.0 strategy (2026-30)*.

    * In line with Gavi’s strategy for the next fiscal cycle, it aims to △introduce and scale up vaccines, △strengthen health systems to increase equity in immunization, △improve programmatic and financial sustainability of immunization programs, and △ensure healthy markets for vaccines and related products.

5. This meeting between Deputy Minister Kweon and CEO Nishtar is significant in that the Korean government and Gavi agreed to further strengthen cooperation on response to future pandemics amid the global resurgence of infectious diseases such as COVID-19 and Mpox.

6. Previously, the Korean government contributed* 280 million U.S. dollars to Gavi for response to COVID-19 and will continue to actively participate in the international community’s efforts to develop and distribute vaccines through cooperation with global health organizations including Gavi.

    * Korea contributed 210 million U.S. dollars to the COVID-19 Vaccines Global Access Advance Market Commitment (COVAX AMC) from 2020 to 2022 and 70 million U.S. dollars to the Access to COVID-19 Tools Accelerator (ACT-A) in 2023.