Karachi: Consul General of Republic of Korea Yi Sungho informed that Korean government was setting up an IT Centre in Karachi near Airport, which, upon completion would provide an excellent opportunity to young IT startups to move to this IT Centre and start working with Korea.

"Similar IT centre's construction work has already been completed in Islamabad as well because Korean government is keen to support Pakistan in developing its IT sector, however, Pakistan needs to come up with strong policies to train and educate young people in IT sector and must also invest more money on education and training to find some geniuses who could bring in revolution not only in IT but also other sectors of economy", he added while speaking at meeting during his visit to Karachi Chamber of Commerce and Industry (KCCI).

President KCCI Tariq Yousuf, Vice President KCCI Haris Agar, Chairman Diplomatic Missions and Embassies Liaison Subcommittee Ziaul Arfeen and KCCI Managing Committee members attended meeting.

Korean Envoy said keeping in view size of both economies, trade volume between Korea and Pakistan seems very low. Hence, efforts were being made to enlarge existing trade volume but it would take time. "Trade between two countries kept growing until 2019, but it suffered serious setbacks after outbreak of Covid-19 endemic, which was followed by some economic difficulties in Pakistan especially foreign exchange problem", he added while expressing optimism that trade between Korea and Pakistan will rebound again in future.

Ye Sungho noted that Korea was doing well in Pakistan's automobile sector as KIA Motors, along with Lucky Motor, were successfully operating here due to LC issue, KIA had to reduce its operations, but it was temporarily and Korea automobile company will be able to restore its operation as soon as LC situation normalises.

"To support Pakistan's economy in its quest for fetching maximum workers' remittances, Korean government encourages Pakistani workers to work in Korea. Hence, we extended maximum quota for Pakistani Workers to 4,000 workers of which 3,000 workers have already been called to Korea."

On investment potential of Korean textile companies, envoy pointed out that most of Korean companies moved their manufacturing units to Bangladesh with passage of time where they were doing quite well. "If Pakistan provides good business environment, these Korean companies will certainly move their units here in Pakistan mainly due to low labour cost which is most important element of cost of doing business" he said.

Still, now cost of labour in Pakistan was even lower than what it was in Bangladesh which could encourage many Korean companies to move businesses to Pakistan but other conditions for doing business must also be same as being offered in Bangladesh.

CG informed that Pakistan's Embassy in Korea will also be holding an Investment and Trade Promotion Conference next week wherein Trade Development Authority of Pakistan and Board of Investment will be explaining overall investment environment and regulations in Pakistan to Korean companies.

Karachi is really centre of economic activities in Pakistan but it seems that city was little bit suppressed by Lahore, hence, business community of Karachi needs to do more to regain city's previous position.

He stressed that Korean companies need to explore JVs and investment in SEZs under CPEC. "One-Belt-One-Road initiative could prove to be beneficial for enhancing trade between two countries whereas Visa regime also needs to be eased for greater matchmaking between two countries."