ISLAMABAD: President Asif Ali Zardari on Wednesday offered Korea to establish its economic zone in Pakistan to boost trade ties between the two countries.

The President was chairing a meeting to discuss his forthcoming visit to Korea and to highlight investment opportunities for the Korean businessmen and investors in Pakistan.

Representatives of Korean companies were also present.

Briefing about the meeting Spokesperson to the President Farhatullah Babar said President Zardari invited Korean companies to take advantage of most attractive investment opportunities available in Pakistan in different sectors including oil and gas, mining, trading, energy, information technology and telecom, food and agriculture, Small and Medium Enterprises, infrastructure and tourism.

Zardari said he looked forward to his visit to Korea which would help boost economic and trade ties between the two countries.

He said with emerging market of 180 million people, Pakistan was a potential hub of the economic activities in the region as it was located at the crossroads of West Asia, South Asia, Central Asia and China and provided shortest access to North and South Asia through Gwadar Port.

He said Pakistan was a force multiplier for the economies of the countries in the region and held the key to economic development in the area.

The Spokesperson said the President appreciated managers and heads of Korean companies operating in Pakistan for their investment and their interest to further explore business opportunities here.

He assured the participants that Pakistan government would continue to extend maximum facilitation and provide them with every possible support in realizing their investment objectives.

He said the government was keen to transform the existing relationship with the Republic of Korea into economy-oriented equation for the benefit of the two countries.

“We need to translate our existing relations in economic terms,” the spokesperson quoted the President, “so as to take advantage of each others' resources and opportunities.”

Highlighting Pak-Korea relations, the President mentioned landmark infrastructure projects completed with the help of South Korean companies and said it testified lasting relationships between Pakistan and the Republic of Korea.

The Korean companies represented Star Hydro Power, Lotte Pak PTA Co Ltd. Karachi, SAMBU Pak (Pvt) Ltd, Hyundai Engineering Co, Lotte Engineering and Construction Co, Deokjae Connecting Roads (Pvt) Ltd, Daewoo Pakistan Express Bus Service Ltd, Daewoo Pakistan Motorway Service Ltd. Karachi, LS Cable, Hyundai Corporation Karachi and Poonsan Corporation.

The meeting of the President with the heads and executives of leading Korean companies was also attended by Foreign Minister Hina Rabbani Khar, Communications Minister Dr. Arbab Alamgir Khan, Finance Minister Dr. Abdul Hafeez Shaikh, Makhdoom Shahabuddin, Federal Minister for Textile Industry, Syed Naveed Qamar, Federal Minister for Water and Power, Secretary General to the President M. Salman Faruqui and Chairman BOI Saleem H Manndviwala.