ISLAMABAD: South Korea was a major importer of copper ore with zero duty on its import and it was keen to import thousands of tons of copper ore from Pakistan to produce goods for exports, said Taeyong Thomas Shinn, Chairman, Korea Importers Association (KOIMA) during his visit to Islamabad Chamber of Commerce and Industry. He was accompanies by Sung-hoon Kang, Director, KOIMA.
He said Korea’s annual imports were around US$ 500 billion and 75% of its total imports were done by Korea Importers Association. He said due to lack of natural resources, Korea was dependent on import of huge quantities of raw materials from abroad to manufacture exportable products while Pakistan was producing lot of raw materials and both countries have enormous potential to enhance bilateral trade cooperation.
He said despite huge potential, the bilateral trade between Pakistan and Korea was far less and stressed upon the need of signing a Free Trade agreement between the two countries in order to improve two-way trade. He said Korea’s airline was seriously considering to start direct flights between Korea and Pakistan that will help in promoting trade relations.
Speaking at the occasion, Sheikh Pervez Ahmed, senior vice president, Islamabad Chamber of Commerce and Industries briefed the Korean delegation about export potential of Pakistani products. He said Pakistan could export many products including copper and other ores, textile products, wheat, rice, fruits and vegetables, meat products, surgical items, sports and leather goods to Korea, however, its stringent sanitary and phyto-sanitary measures were major trade barriers for promoting trade with Korea.
He said China-Pak Economic Corridor would create plenty of opportunities for investment and joint ventures in Pakistan , especially in infrastructure development and energy projects and emphasized that the Korean investors should explore the possibilities of investing in these projects.
Sheikh Abdul Waheed, vice president ICCI said that direct contacts between the business communities of Pakistan and Korea were important to identify new areas of mutual cooperation and stressed for the need of frequent exchange of trade delegations and holding single country exhibitions to realize the available potential of bilateral trade and investment between the both countries. Khalid Rasool, Director, Trade Development Authority of Pakistan was also present at the occasion.
