Hikma champions healthcare resilience, MENA–China co-investment at World Economic Forum Annual Meeting of the New Champions

Hikma Pharmaceuticals PLC (Hikma), the multinational pharmaceutical group, concluded its participation at the World Economic Forum's Annual Meeting of the New Champions (AMNC) 2026, held in Dalian, People's Republic of China from 23 to 25 June. Convening under the theme "Innovating at Scale," the meeting brought together heads of state, ministers, global business and civil society leaders to address the economic and industrial priorities defining the next decade from supply-chain resilience and healthcare security to the trajectory of emerging-market growth.

Mazen Darwazeh, Executive Vice Chairman and Deputy CEO of Hikma MENA, attended as Co-Chair of the AMNC, joining heads of state and global industry leaders in shaping the Forum's agenda. Across formal and informal high-level exchanges, Mazen contributed to some of the meeting's most substantive debates. As a key pharmaceutical industry expert and private sector representative on the panel "What's Next for the Middle East?", Mazen explored how we can build prosperity, including rebuilding infrastructure in conflict zones amid shifting geoeconomic and industrial realities such as energy transitions, supply chain disruptions and trade and transportation routes. He spoke alongside other representatives from the GCC business community and scholars including Sanam Vakil (Director, MENA, Chatham House) and Karen E. Young (Senior Research Scholar, Center on Global Energy Policy, Columbia University who moderated the panel. They were also joined by Lina Noureddin, President and Founder of Lamar Holding and Khaled Sharbatly, CEO of Desert Technologies. 

Drawing on Hikma's nearly 50 years of pharmaceutical manufacturing built from within MENA, he noted that despite witnessing constant unrest, a pandemic and regional wars, the region has remained resilient, but not only that, it has developed and accomplished success in many sectors and industries across the Levant, KSA and GCC. He also contributed to the panel "Farm to Pharma: Tackling Superbugs Together" addressing antimicrobial resistance as a challenge that sits at the intersection of access, manufacturing, and systems design and the need to build cross-sector mechanisms that connect prevention to treatment, and innovation to delivery, at scale.

Commenting on Hikma's participation at the Forum, Mazen said: "The Annual Meeting of the New Champions in Dalian China is one of the most consequential forums for the future of industry, global health and global and regional business alliances. The conversation now centres around joint manufacturing capability, technology transfer, open economies and free trade agreements to allow for cooperation across borders to create a positive momentum that the whole world can benefit from.” 

The MENA–China relationship was a thread running through much of the Forum's agenda and the conversation is shifting from commerce to co-investment in manufacturing, technology transfer, and joint capability in life sciences and advanced industries. 

Mazen was also featured on The Mo Show, part of the Davos on Air podcast series recorded live at the AMNC, in a wide-ranging conversation covering Hikma's journey from its founding in Amman to its position today as a global pharmaceutical company listed on the London Stock Exchange.