President Zardari holds talks with South Korean President

President Asif Ali Zardari held talks with his South Korean counterpart Lee Myung-Bak on Tuesday after his arrival in the South Korean capital on Monday on a three-day official visit.

The two sides held talks in a bid to expand bilateral cooperation and trade ties. Minister of State for Foreign Affairs Nawabzada Malik Ammad Khan, Water and Power Minister Chaudhry Ahmed Mukhtar, Commerce Minister Amin Fahim, Pakistan Muslim League-Q chief Chaudhry Shujaat Hussain and a delegation of businessmen accompanying the president. Earlier, President Zardari was given an official welcome on his arrival at the Cheong Wa dae – Office of the President. The two countries also inked an agreement and two memoranda of understanding. These include an agreement on grant of aid between the government of the Republic of Korea and the government of Pakistan, and two MoUs between Korea Water Resource Corporation (Korea) and Pakistan’s Water and Power Development Authority, and for cooperation in the field of railway between the Ministry of Land, Transport and Maritime Affairs (MLTM) of the Republic of Korea and Pakistan’s Ministry of Railways. President Zardari, who has meetings scheduled with heads of over a dozen top South Korean companies, will urge the business community to invest in Pakistan, particularly in its energy sector. In the past two decades, Korea has become the twelfth largest trading partner of Pakistan with a two-way trade volume of about $1.5 billion in 2011. Korean companies such as Lotte, Posco, Samsung and LG Electronics are well known in Pakistan, while Daewoo’s Islamabad-Lahore Motorway (M2) has been a landmark project. The Korean companies are also working on several other projects, including the Lowari Tunnel, expansion of Karachi port, besides having stakes in power generation projects of around 3,000 MW.