Karachi : Mr. Irfan Iqbal Sheikh, President FPCCI, has welcomed the Korea Trade-Investment Promotion Agency (KOTRA)’ initiatives in Pakistan for youth empowerment; skills development; world-class vocational training; productive efficiency enhancement and employment generation.
Mr. Irfan Iqbal Sheikh has expressed his satisfaction that the productive capacity of Pakistani engineers working in automobile plants has increased substantially and their efficiency has also increased by 20 percent with the help of various trainings & vocational education programs of friendly country of South Korea’s KOTRA. We need to learn from Korean industrial standards and try to adapt them in Pakistan, he added.
Mr. Irfan Iqbal Sheikh stressed that in the total bilateral trade of $1.6 billion with Korea, Pakistani exports stand at merely $191; resulting in a massive bilateral trade deficit, year after year. He proposed that KOTRA should help Pakistani exporters to improve B2B & Chamber-to-Chamber linkages with their Korean counterparts – and, enable them to find their expanded export market in value-added textiles; leather products; sports goods; IT & IT-enabled Services (ITeS); cement & related products; surgical goods and natural minerals.
Engr. M. A. Jabbar, VP FPCCI, said that FPCCI is concerned at the shortages of raw materials at Lotte’s Pakistan plant; which is a Korea’s top multinational conglomerate & playing an important role in Pakistan’s industrial & economic development. He added that FPCCI requests the government to resolve the pending LCs of Lotte ASAP.
Engr. M. A. Jabbar apprised that there are at least 25 major Korean companies operating in Pakistan and generating a lot of economic activities & employment. We should facilitate & incentivize them; so that, more Korean companies can establish their presence in Pakistan.
Engr. M. A. Jabbar explained that the only way forward for Pakistan is rapid industrialization and aggressive import substitution; and, Korea is the right partner for FDI in various industrial sectors; joint ventures and manufacturing collaborations.
Mr. Sung Jae Kim, Director General of KOTRA Karachi Office, briefed the session that KOTRA is willing to expand its services & programs in Pakistan. He also emphasized that Pakistan can increase their exports to Korea through quality assurance at par with Korean standards; and, this will reduce the bilateral trade deficit of Pakistan with Korea.
However, DG KOTRA, added that the government of Pakistan should look into the pending LCs; shortages & delays of raw materials; profit repatriation and other foreign exchange related issues of Korean companies in Pakistan.
