Islamabad
Adviser to PM on Commerce and Textile, Industries and Production and Investment Razak Dawood urged the South Korean companies to invest in Pakistan owing to its improved global ranking in ‘Ease of Doing Business’ Index by 11 points in 2019. Razak Dawood, concluded a successful visit to South Korea and he also was heading a delegation of textile top players, said a press release issued by Ministry of Commerce here on Sunday. During the visit Advisor to PM met his Korean counterpart and deliberated upon various issues and opportunities in order to enhance bilateral cooperation in areas of Trade and Investment.
During meetings he underlined that there was enormous potential in bilateral trade and investment between both the countries which needs to be exploited in times to come.
The Adviser to PM asked Korean companies to participate in CPEC related projects and also proposed establishment of Exclusive Economic Zone for Korean companies as part of CPEC. He said Pakistan has launched a program titled Regulatory Guillotine to ease the business regulations to attract investment in the country. Through this program 2 to 3 regulations are removed every month to ease out the business activities, the adviser highlighted.
He also added that Pakistan has taken various effective steps to improve trade procedures by establishing better trade facilitation regime. Razak said the big Korean companies were interested to invest in different projects, pertaining to manufacturing of technology equipment, of mutual interest. Businessmen are very much interested to make investment in Pakistan owing to huge investment opportunities and intend to maintain a constant interaction with the business community for better understanding of prevalent investment regulatory regime in the country,the adviser highlighted.
In order to enhance bilateral trade, Advisor to PM offered Early Harvest Program to his Korean counterpart which may lead to Free Trade Agreement (FTA) between both the countries. In this regard, Advisor asked his counterpart to hold meeting of Joint Trade Committee at the earliest in order to address trade issues and improve trade facilitation.
Korean Minister agreed to hold it near the end of this year. During the visit, Advisor also held meetings with the heads of private sector organizations in his efforts to draw investment from Korea i.e. Daelim, Lotte Group, Daewoo E&C, K-Water, Korea Railway Network Authority (KRNA), Korea Energy (KOEN),Korea Hydro and Nuclear Power (KHNP), Korea Overseas Infrastructure and Urban Development Corporation (KIND) and Korea Importers Association (KOIMA).
Both sides resolved to address the bilateral trade and investment bottlenecks to enhance the economic cooperation between South Korea and Pakistan. In this regard, Korea will send buying mission/delegation of importers to Pakistan in coming months. The delegation had very engaging dialogue with the Korean investors and importers. During the visit Pak-Korea CEO forum was also held in Seoul in which top Korean companies were represented.—APP
