Pakistan seeks free trade agreement with South Korea

E-Paper | March 03, 2026

ISLAMABAD: Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif said Monday that Pakistan sought a free trade agreement with South Korea, DawnNews reported.

Sharif met the visiting South Korean premier Chung Hong-won in the federal capital.

Following the meeting, diplomatic talks were held between the delegations of the two countries.

The delegations were led by the respective premiers of the two countries.

The Pakistani delegation comprised Khurram Dastgir and Ahsan Iqbal whereas the Korean delegation included its deputy information minister and deputy commerce minister.

On the occasion, Sharif said Pakistan wanted a free trade agreement with South Korea and a joint business forum would assist in boosting energy, communications and basic infrastructure.

He, moreover, said that for the next three years the two countries would forge a strategic business partnership and also expressed the hope that South Korean would increase scholarships for Pakistani students.

Meanwhile, Hong-won said that the two countries would have to promote mutual cooperation in the fields of energy, trade and economy.

Pakistan

South Korean PM to visit Pakistan tomorrow

Khalid

Apr 14, 2014 05:07pm

You can't manage free trade with your neighbours, what would you do with free trade with South Korea?. India is a huge market and the world is trying to do business with them. Being a neighbour, your first priority should have been free trade with India, Sri Lanka, Bangladesh and Afghanistan. Is it too difficult for your government?.

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Azi

Apr 14, 2014 06:22pm

Is he ok? Trade agreement. Sick of his thinkings. Recently Disney has closed Trade from Pakistan. and he jumping like sheep here and there. Baby try to open with EU and US. then you are a big thing.

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Khan

Apr 14, 2014 07:20pm

@Khalid: Get over with India syndrome. Pakistan needs to shun India and Afganistan all together. Open more doors to Iran , China, Turkey, UAE. Pakistan wants Samsung Technology. car spare parts technology, did your read infrastructure , energy etc what PM said.. Not rotten potatoes, onions from India, nacro contrabands from Afghanistan, what Bangladesh has to offer--disband J.I. workers. Sri Lanka already exporting Lipton tea.

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John

Apr 14, 2014 07:53pm

I can understand that S. Korea has a lot to trade with Pakistan but what does Pakistan have to trade with S. Korea? Sarees, masala & Basmati. This trade agreement is in 100% in favor of S. Korea. The only agreements we can pursue where we may have an equal or near equal opportunity to trade is with our neighbors. However, we are not leaving any opportunity to screw the deals.

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Farhan

Apr 14, 2014 07:53pm

@Khalid We have outstanding disputes with India that makes doing free trade with it fraught with difficulties. Also, Afghanistan and Bangladesh are both very poor countries. There isn't much benefit in doing 'free trade' with them.

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mohsin

Apr 15, 2014 12:14am

After the Daewoo taxi scam by Mr sharif ages ago; I am wondering if South Korea is even taking him seriously this time.

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Khalid

Apr 15, 2014 03:03am

@Khan: Get over with India syndrome?. I wish you understood the underlying reasons for the progress / growth rate India has been able to achieve. There is a lot we can learn from India. One way to deal with the "India syndrome" is to act like an ostrich and hope all will be well. I would prefer to learn. India exports 60 Billion USD worth of IT and IT enabled services. Pakistan managed 300 Million last year. Do you think there is room for improvement?. Also, the number of universities in Pakistan are reported to be 128. Number of universities in India is a staggering 8,407 !!. Do you think there is room for us to learn from India?. For your information, the per capita income in India is a 1,000 USD more than Pakistan's (USD 2,900). I could go on. I recently attended a course at MIT and in my class there were 17 students from India and NONE from Pakistan (I hold a European passport). It bleeds my heart that we are so far behind yet so arrogant. We are so ignorant that we don't even know where we stand in the world rankings.

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Khalid

Apr 15, 2014 03:22am

@Farhan: I am sure it is difficult but is it not the responsibility of the government to deal with the most profitable relationships first? even if they are difficult.

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