Ambassador Republic of Korea Song Jong-hwan assured his country’s full support to Pakistan for achieving economic miracles and overcoming its socio-economic problems.
He held out this assurance at a seminar here Tuesday, which was also addressed by Finance Minister Ishaq Dar and other economic experts. The seminar was jointly organized by the Korean embassy and Institute of Policy Study.
The speakers included former Commerce Minister Humayuan Akhtar Khan, Dr. Hafiz Pasha and economic experts from Korea Lee, Tai Hwan and Dr. Jwa, Sung-Hee.
The seminar was the follow-up of the earlier meeting held between President of Republic of Korea Korean President Ms. Park Geun-hye and Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif in New York last month. The two leaders while expressing satisfaction at their positive trajectory of bilateral relations had vowed to establish a mechanism for Strategic Dialogue at the Foreign Ministers level and enhance their socio-economic partnership at all levels.
Ambassador Song Jong-Hwan said he was convinced of Pakistan’s potential of achieving economic heights in years to come, since it is endowed with rich natural and human resources. His country, he added is prepared to work with Pakistan for achieving its economic targets. He also highlighted export-oriented economic policy of his country and the rapid progress they achieved in the recent years. The seminar, he added reflects their strong desired to boost up their economic ties with Pakistan.
While inaugurating the seminar, Ishaq Dar said Pakistan was persuing aggressive policies in order to bring prosperity in the life of ordinary citizens. “We wish to learn from the experience of the Korean people in their economic pursuits,” he said adding that Pakistan and Korea could be good economic partners since there are many similarities between them.
About energy crisis, the Finance Minister said that the government is working on a number of energy projects and said that the government would succeed to completely eliminate energy crisis till March 2018. Addressing a seminar in Islamabad, Ishaq Dar said that the government will add 10600 megawatt of electricity to the national grid during its tenure. He said several short and long term power projects have been launched to overcome the electricity crisis.
He said work on Dasu and Diamer Basha dams have been started simultaneously. He said Karachi operation and Zarb-e-Azb have helped restore peace in the country, which he hoped will lead to economic stability of the country and fighting out poverty.
About the foreign reserves, he said these have crossed dollar 20 billions, which is the first time in the history of Pakistan.