In an address to a Thursday meeting of Uzbek and Iranian businesspeople and officials, held in Tashkent, Chairman of the International Interaction Centre of the Iranian Vice-Presidency for Science and Technology Mahdi Qalenoei hailed Uzbekistan as a friendly country and a major economic center near Iran.

Highlighting Iran’s efforts to boost trade ties with Uzbekistan in recent years, Qalenoei said Tehran and Tashkent can promote cooperation in the sphere of new technologies, considering the global technological advances, the regional and international environmental problems, the need for innovation in science, the necessity of optimizing energy use, the need for application of cognitive sciences, and the importance of increasing productivity and economic competitiveness.

He also expressed hope that academic cooperation between the two nations would accelerate the progress in new technologies such as nanotechnology, biotechnology, aerospace science, cognitive sciences, and new energies.

“Today, more than 4,400 Iranian knowledge-based companies are offering technologies that sell in the domestic market and could also enter the international markets in case of joint investment in mass-production,” he added.

According to the presidential official, the Iranian biopharmaceuticals are being exported to Russia, Turkey and other regional countries for the treatment of cancer and inflammatory diseases.

Qalenoei said Iranian pharmaceutical company “CinnaGen” has fulfilled the domestic need for biotech medicines, and is also capable of designing, constructing, equipping and launching pharmaceutical factories in the other countries.

The technologies developed by CinnaGen have been exported to Turkey, Syria, Southeast Asia, and Latin America, he added, unveiling plans for cooperation with the European countries.

The official then highlighted the advances made by “Cell Tech Pharmed”, saying the Iranian company has succeeded in curing four terminal illnesses with the use of stem cells and regenerative medicine.

The Iranian knowledge-based companies have also the technical know-how to manufacture advanced equipment such as surgical robots, linear particle accelerators, dosimetry apparatus, radio frequency systems, and cyclotrons used for medical diagnosis, he added.

Qalenoei also highlighted the Iranian knowledge-based companies’ progress in the production of livestock and poultry vaccines, antibiotics, hormones, and supplementary medicines.

Moreover, he added, the Iranian knowledge-based enterprises working on herbal medicine have developed a cure for chronic migraines, and have also invented herbal ointments for the treatment of bedsore, burns and diabetic ulcers.

There are more than 260 knowledge-based companies in Iran in the field of medical research and production of new pharmaceuticals, while around 200 other firms are engaged in innovative and research activities to develop medical equipment, said chairman of the International Interaction Centre of the Iranian Vice Presidency for Science and Technology.