Pak-Korea ties to strengthen its economies

The first ever visit of top leadership of Korea to Pakistan during the last 31 years will open new avenues of cooperation between the two countries. It is a positive step and historic achievement for the promotion of bilateral ties, said Ambassador of Korea in Pakistan Dr Song Jong-hwan while addressing the business and trade community at Faisalabad Chamber of Commerce & Industry.

Dr.Song hoped that the prime minister of Pakistan will reciprocate and visit Korea very soon to pave way for the visit of Korean leader that will herald a new era of bilateral relations between Korea and Pakistan.

The MoU inked for the cooperation in trade and investment sector will help Korean companies come to Pakistan to harvest the benefits of its liberal economic and investment policies.

The total trade volume between Pakistan and Korea is US$ 1.5 billion which is far less than the potential of two countries. There is a strong need to collaborate for increasing trade volume which will benefit the two countries. Pakistan is the 4th major quality cotton growing country while Korea is producing best textile machinery.

The collaboration between the two countries in textile sector will give boost to its economies. Regarding manpower, Dr. Song said that Korea Trade Investment Promotion Agency has established garment institute in Karachi which is equipping Pakistani youth with latest technologies in garment sector. This cooperation could be extended for many other sectors of mutual interest.

About security concern, as Pakistan government is making sincere efforts to improve the overall law and order situation. He assured to convince Korean companies to come and invest in the country as the situation was gradually improving.

FCCI President Suhail Bin Rashid regarding law and order situation in Pakistan said that the government was making serious efforts to improve the situation and hope that Korea will also help to improve the overall image of Pakistan.

A keen interest was also show from FCCI president in the purchase of second-hand textile machinery and would also arrange frequent trade delegations to make further progress in this regard.

The technical and skill upgradation programmes should also be launched with increased pace and speeds collaboratively. Pakistan has adequate skilled manpower and could assist South Korea to meet their manpower demand.

Faisalabad has more than 2.5 million workforces in addition to huge number of semi-skilled and unskilled workers .He opined that Korea should take advantage of cheap labour from the area. FCCI would arrange Korean language proficiency courses in collaboration with TEVTA.

In Faisalabad, FCCI have dedicated TEVTA Textile Institute with state-of-the-art building which can be further promoted as ‘Centre of Excellence’ with the technical and financial assistance by the Korea Cooperation Agency. It is the initiative of FCCI and they are ready to share their ownership.