TIANJIN: Efforts to implement the Action Plan to Foster an Even Closer China-Pakistan Community with a Shared Future in the New Era (2025–2029) are beginning to take practical shape, with one of its important components, cooperation in medicine and pharmaceutical sciences, now moving toward concrete implementation under the Belt and Road framework.
The Action Plan 2025–2029, endorsed during Prime Minister Muhammad Shehbaz Sharif’s state visit to China from August 30 to September 4, 2025, outlines cooperation across multiple scientific and technological fields. Among these, medicine and health stand out. Both governments agreed to “strengthen joint research programs in applied and basic sciences… and jointly support intergovernmental research programs on… medicine and health” while also committing to “work together to implement specialized cooperation programs for scientific and technological innovation in… traditional medicine.”
These commitments were reflected on the ground this week at the 2025 Annual Academic Conference of the Tianjin Key Laboratory of Molecular Drug Research, where Chinese and Pakistani scholars advanced concrete steps toward deeper collaboration in pharmaceutical sciences.
During a high-level session at Nankai University, senior leadership from the University of Sargodha (UoS), including Vice Chancellor Prof. Dr. Qaisar Abbas and the Pro-Vice Chancellor and Dean of Pharmacy, met with Nankai’s Faculty of Pharmacy for extensive discussions aligned with the Action Plan’s health and medicine priorities.
“The discussions, centered on collaboration under the Belt and Road Initiative (BRI), yielded several key agreements,” reads an official statement of the university.
The delegates agreed on several initiatives: establishing joint research laboratories in molecular drug development, launching exchange and internship pathways for pharmacy students, initiating collaborative research projects and planning an international research conference to expand regional scientific networks.
Momentum increased further when Nankai University accepted an invitation to send a delegation to visit the UoS campus, a step expected to refine upcoming programs and strengthen institutional coordination.
The progress made in Tianjin marks an early and tangible step toward implementing the Action Plan’s vision for closer cooperation in medicine, health and pharmaceutical research under the BRI. –Agencies
