*ISLAMABAD – *Razzak Dawood asked Korean companies to participate in CPECrelated projects and also proposed establishment of an Exclusive EconomicZone for Korean companies as part of CPEC.
Adviser to Prime Minister Imran Khan on Commerce and Textile, Industriesand Production and Investment Razak Dawood urged the South Korean companiesto invest in Pakistan owing to its improved global ranking in ‘Ease ofDoing Business’ Index by 11 points in 2019.
Razak Dawood, concluded a successful visit to South Korea and where he alsowas heading a delegation of top textile players from Pakistan, said a pressrelease issued by Ministry of Commerce here on Sunday.
During the visit Adviser to PM met his Korean counterpart and deliberatedupon various issues and opportunities in order to enhance bilateralcooperation in areas of trade and investment.
During the meetings, he underlined that there was enormous potential inbilateral trade and investment between both the countries which needs to beexploited in times to come.
Razzak Dawood asked Korean companies to participate in CPEC relatedprojects and also proposed establishment of an Exclusive Economic Zone forKorean companies as part of CPEC.
He said Pakistan has launched a programme titled Regulatory Guillotine toease the business regulations to attract investment in the country.
Through this programme two to three regulations are removed every month toease out the business activities, the adviser highlighted.
He also added that Pakistan has taken various effective steps to improvetrade procedures by establishing better trade facilitation regime.
Razak said the big Korean companies were interested to invest in differentprojects, pertaining to manufacturing of technology equipment, which is ofmutual interest. Businessmen are very much interested to make an investmentin Pakistan owing to huge investment opportunities and intend to maintain aconstant interaction with the business community for better understandingof prevalent investment regulatory regime in the country, the adviserhighlighted.
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In order to enhance bilateral trade, Adviser to PM offered Early HarvestProgramme 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 ofJoint Trade Committee at the earliest in order to address trade issues andimprove 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 ofprivate sector organisations in his efforts to draw investment from Koreai.e. Daelim, Lotte Group, Daewoo E&C, K-Water, Korea Railway NetworkAuthority (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 investmentbottlenecks to enhance the economic cooperation between South Korea andPakistan.
In this regard, Korea will send buying mission/delegation of importers toPakistan in coming months.
Meanwhile, the Pakistani delegation had a very engaging dialogue with theKorean investors and importers.
During the visit, Pak-Korea CEO forum was also held in Seoul in which topKorean companies were represented.
