S Korean investors offered to invest in power sector

South Korea being an important trade partner and having advanced expertise in the field of power sector can assist Pakistan in setting up joint ventures along with latest technology transfers.

"Pakistan should focus on indigenous resources to generate cheap electricity as Doosan has capacity to explore coal fields' reserves in Pakistan", Jeong Tae Song, Senior Vice President, Doosan Corporation of South Korea said here in a meeting with the business community of Pakistan on Monday.

He said that the Korean investors could earn lucrative profits while investing in Pakistan. Islamabad Chamber of commerce & Industry (ICCI) hosted a meeting of South Korean investors and organized their Business to Business (B2B) meetings with Pakistani entrepreneurs having common interest in various fields.

Shaukat Ali Mukadam, Ambassador of Pakistan to South Korea and senior officials of Board of Investment were also present on the occasion. South Korean delegation comprising of representatives from major companies like Samsung Construction & Trading Corp, Lottee Group, WISDOM, STX Group, KORAIL, K-Water, Doosan Corporation, Sambu Construction, CK Solar, Dongin Medical Centre, KCIP, Sambo engineering, Daewoo E & C, KEPCO and NanoRronix.

Speaking on the occasion, Shaukat Ali Mukadam traced the history of Pak-Korean diplomatic and trade relations and expressed the desire to expand the bilateral trade ties between the two countries up to US$5 billion over the next few years. He also informed the meeting about organizing of a follow-up visit of Pak-businessmen to South Korea would further strengthen and deepen the economic relations between Pakistan and Korea.

He said that Korean companies were already working in different water and power sector projects and more investors were keen to invest in the country. The Ambassador said that Pakistan has a special repute in producing a wide range of high quality surgical instruments which were used across the world and there was a great demand for Pakistani surgical instruments in Korean markets.

In his keynote address, Tariq Sadiq, Former President ICCI welcomed the South Korean delegation of investors and said that Pakistan gives immense importance to its relations with South Korea, especially in the context of the Vision East Asia Policy of the Government.

He said that the Pakistani Business Community is very much optimistic that the visit of President of Pakistan to Korea and your follow-up visit would lead to opening up of many new avenues of collaboration between the two countries.

Tariq Sadiq said that the current level of bilateral trade between Pakistan and Korea is around 1.6 billion US dollars, which was far below the true potential of both countries.

He said that Pakistan is a nation of over 180 million people with a vibrant middle class having an increasing purchasing power and possess a huge reservoir of Human Resource, which is highly skilled and disciplined. "Our foreign exchange rate parity could also make local fabrication & manufacture very attractive and competitive for exports, compared to other countries in the Region", he maintained.