A global pharmaceutical company announced a plan Friday to invest US$630 million in South Korea over the coming five years, participating in a "business summit" held here on the occasion of President Moon Jae-in's state visit, his office said.
Moon joined the South Korea-Sweden Business Summit at a downtown hotel, along with King Carl XVI Gustaf, Prime Minister Stefan Lofven and hundreds of businesspeople from the two sides.
They included Leif Johansson, chairman of AstraZeneca, a Swedish-British pharmaceutical and biopharmaceutical firm.
He said his company would make the R&D investment, worth around 746 billion won, from 2020 through 2025, a Cheong Wa Dae official told reporters.
It would be the largest-ever investment in South Korea's bio-medical R&D sector, the official added.
The firm's decision came as the Moon administration is campaigning to develop the non-memory chip, future car and bio-health fields as the nation's future economic growth engines.
Delivering a keynote speech at the summit, Moon proposed that South Korea and Sweden strengthen bilateral partnerships on future industries including bio-health, eco-friendly vehicles and ICT.
Moon noted that AstraZeneca, in particular, is cooperating closely with South Korea's 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 to further develop," Moon said.
More than 100 representatives from 52 firms based in South Korea took part in the event. Those include Samsung Electronics, Hyundai Motor, LG Chem, NEXON Korea and Netmarble.
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)