'Pakistan safe for foreign investors'

By Kim Se-jeong

After the streets of Pakistan’s capital Islamabad filled with demonstrators last Tuesday, the ambassador in Seoul from that nation was forced to cancel a trip home during which he was scheduled to accompany a group of Korean investors.

Ambassador Shaukat Ali Mukadam was scheduled to introduce the Korean contingent to President Asif Ali Zardari and Prime Minister Raja Pervez Asharaf. Last Tuesday, Prime Minister Asharaf was arrested on corruption charges.

The mass demonstration was waged by supporters of the cleric and politician Tahirul Qadri, who demanded that the military and judiciary become involved in establishing a government to oversee upcoming elections.

The incident illustrates a dilemma Pakistan is facing: It is in a desperate need of foreign investment for further development but the incident will deter interest from foreign investors.

Acknowledging this predicament and such concerns among investors, the envoy said that in reality, the impact of the situation on foreign investors on the ground is almost none. Instead, he urged prospective investors to look for positives.

“Pakistan has a lot of potential,” Mukadam told The Korea Times last Wednesday. He added that a handful of Korean companies working in Pakistan are proof that the unrest has little impact on existing successful investment projects.

In 1997, Daewoo completed a highway linking Lahore and Islamabad. Moreover, the company currently runs a bus network in the country. Doosan constructed a thermal power plant in 2009 with capacity of 175 megawatts in Daharki in southern Pakistan. In April last year, Ssangyong completed a port expansion project in Karachi while Sambu Construction has participated in building a couple of hydroelectric power plants. So did K-Water and Hyundai Engineering.

According to the Korean Embassy in Islamabad, the amount of Korean investment in Pakistan in 2011 was roughly $341 million.

A representative from Sambu Construction said his company is not particularly concerned about violence and acts of terrorism happening in the country. The company is currently constructing a hydro power plant in the Kashmir region.

“The construction site has its own security agents. We find the rules and regulations in favor of investors,” he said without identifying his name for this article.

Choi Moon-seok from CK Solar echoed the representative from Sambu.

Regarding security concerns in particular, he said, “As long as you avoid certain places you’re advised to avoid, you are safe. Wherever you go, you find insecure places, so it’s not a problem.” CK Solar will break the ground for a solar cell farm that can generate 50,000 megawatts of energy.

Pakistan’s troubled modern history began with its independence from the United Kingdom in 1947. Civil unrest erupted, followed by the Indo-Pakistani War in 1971, in which Pakistan was defeated. The Kargil war in 1999 put General Pervez Musharraf in power. Under his rule, Pakistan was involved in the U.S.-led war on terrorism. In 2007, Benazir Bhutto, a former prime minister, was assassinated, which escalated tension

Bordering with Afghanistan, Pakistan served as a hideout for the Taliban, a terrorist organization, and Osama bin Laden, the founder of al Qaeda who claimed responsibility for the Sept. 11 attack in the United States in 2004, was hiding in Pakistan when he was killed on May 2, 2011.

With the authorities’ priority on improving electricity supply and infrastructure, the envoy said, Islamabad is keen to attract Korean companies.

“Korean companies have know-how in building roads, ports and power plants,” he said.

For the last two years while he’s been here, Pakistan’s Board of Investment came every year – twice a year- for seminars, the most recent of which took place in August last year.

Then Prime Minister, Yusuf Raza Gilani, who came for the Nuclear Security Summit in April last year, extended his stay to meet with investors. Also, in December last year, President Zardari came for a three-day visit which was focused on investment promotion.

The ambassador hoped the investment flow will thrive in the New Year.

“It’s a very important year for us, because we will celebrate the 30th anniversary of bilateral relations.”