Buhari Off To South Korea For World Bio Summit

President Muhammadu Buhari will today depart Abuja for Seoul, South Korea to participate in the First World Bio Summit 2022.

Jointly organised by the government of the Republic of Korea and the World Health Organisation (WHO), the two-day summit slated for October 25 to 26 has the theme: ‘The Future of Vaccine and Bio-Health.’

According to a statement by presidential spokesman, Femi Adesina, Nigeria was selected with five other African countries by the WHO and the European Union (EU) during the  EU-African summit in Brussels, Belgium in February this year for mRNA technology transfer and global training hub for bio-manufacturing of vaccines on the African continent.

Also expected to feature at the summit are CEOs of global vaccine and biologics companies who will share and shape ideas on the theme, given that, according to the organisers, global health security profoundly depends on the innovation and development in the bio-industry.

President Buhari, who is expected to deliver a statement at the summit and meet separately with President Yoon Suk-yeol of Korea, will also seek other ways of more effective partnerships that impact positively on the lives and safety of Nigerians during his other engagements and meetings while in Seoul.

Accompanying the president are Governors Aminu Bello Masari and Abubakar Sani Bello of Katsina and Niger states; Geoffrey Onyeama, Osagie Ehanire and Adeniyi Adebayo, Ministers of Foreign Affairs, Health, Industry, Trade and Investment respectively and Timipre Sylva, Minister of State, Petroleum Resources, among others.