RIYADH: The National Center for Disease Prevention and Control has signed a cooperation agreement with the Public Health Agency of Sweden. The agreement will strengthen ties and enhance cooperation between the two countries in public health within the framework of cooperation prepared in 2019. On behalf of the center, Dr. Abdullah Al-Gwizani, executive director-general, signed the agreement with his Swedish counterpart, Dr. Johan Carlsson. The two parties agreed to promote and develop public health initiatives of common concern, as well as outlining the fields of work covered. These fields included the workforce, organizational development, institutional strategy, business planning, specialized microbiology laboratories, health economics, non-communicable disease prevention, promotion of healthy lifestyles, the monitoring of communicable and non-communicable diseases, and health improvement. Dr. Al-Gwizani said that the agreement would last for five years. It would then be reviewed and renewed after the agreement of both parties. “These agreements reinforce the center’s role in creating new health practices and developing the performance of the public health sector,” he said. “Benefiting from well-established organizations such as the Public Health Agency of Sweden confirms our eagerness to convey the best practices to the public health sector locally, as well as exchanging experiences.”