ISLAMABAD: Adviser to Prime Minister Imran Khan 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 where he also was heading a delegation of top textile players from Pakistan, said a press release issued by Ministry of Commerce here on Sunday.
During the visit Adviser 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 the 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.
Razzak Dawood asked Korean companies to participate in CPEC related projects and also proposed establishment of an Exclusive Economic Zone for Korean companies as part of CPEC.
He said Pakistan has launched a programme titled Regulatory Guillotine to ease the business regulations to attract investment in the country.
Through this programme two to three 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, which is of mutual interest. Businessmen are very much interested to make an 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, Adviser to PM offered Early Harvest Programme to his Korean counterpart which may lead to Free Trade Agreement (FTA) between both the countries.
In this regard, Razzak Dawood asked his counterpart to hold a 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, Razzak Dawood also held meetings with the heads of private sector organisations 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.
Meanwhile, the Pakistani delegation had a 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.
