Salahuddin Haider
Korea to fund 500 million US dol
lars for development projects Pa
kistan, said the Korean consul general Bongsu PARK at a national foundation day reception he had hosted in Karachi at the week-end. It was a lavish party, with Korean musicians enthralled guests with lilting instrumental and vocal music, songs, and traditional entertainment programme.
Above All, the consul general himself delivered a pleasant speech recalling that since establishment of diplomatic relations with Pakistan in 1983, ties between the two countries had kept growing, with trade figures reaching 1.3 billion US dollars, which had potential to grow faster for the mutual benefit of the two countries, maintaining excellent relationship
Commander Karachi, Pakistan Navy, Vice Admiral Amjad Khan Niazi, as chief guest, lauded the progress recorded in strengthening the bilateral ties, and hoped that efforts to cement these further will continue uniniterrupted.
He added that steps taken by the present government had begun to yield positive results as economic indicators were showing improvement in reducing budgetary gap, and growing exports.
Both Bongsu PARK and Commander Karachi left lasting impression on large number of guests, representing a cross section of society’s segments, including business elite, media personnel, politicians.
Prominent among them were former senator Nasreen Jalil, Chancellor of Indus University Khalid Amin, gem of a personality, Majyd Aziz, the polio campaigner and president of English Speaking Union of Pakistan Aziz Memon, Dr Masooma Hasan, and among noted diplomats were the consul general o Turkey, Thailand, Afghanistan, Bangla Desh, Oman, Qatar, Saudi Arabia, and number two of UAE consulate as well as his counterpart from Russian federation.
Natuional anthems and cake cutting were ceremonial, but a group of young ladies, attired in pink flowing gowns appeared like fairies from the other world, descending on our planet. Their performance was delightful, with drums, flute, violin, special Korean instruments resembling like Tanpura and Sarangi of Indo-Pak traditional instruments.
The host revealed that his government will increase substantially recruitment of Pakistani workers to join their colleagues already there, contributing to growth of Korean economy. He was happy that Korean car manufacturers Hyundai, had already introduced Kia motor cars in Pakistan.
Korean assistance were also available in education and heath sectors. Mr Park, in Karachi since about a year is a remarkable persona, extremely courteous, pleasing and a tremendous host. It was a lovely evening.
