“Good Time to Invest in Pakistan”

Ambassador Shaukat Ali Mukadam

Interview with Pakistani Ambassador Shaukat Ali Mukadam

This year marks the 30^th anniversary of Korea-Pakistan bilateral relations. In 1968, Korea and Pakistan established diplomatic relations on the consular level and relations on the ambassadorial level in November 1983.

In an interview with The AsiaN earlier this month, Ambassador Shaukat Ali Mukadam said, “To commemorate the 30th anniversary of Pakistani-Korean bilateral relations, we plan to organize a variety of events throughout the year including a mango festival, introduction to Pakistani marriage customs, and tourism programs .”

Mukadam explained how Korea and Pakistan are on very good terms and how 2012 was a year of great significance as both the prime minister and president of Pakistan visited Korea for the first time. Pakistan also participated in the 2012 Yeosu Expo and another exhibition at Coex. This year, they are also planning on participating in different exhibitions and cultural events.

“ We look forward to closer relations between Korea and Pakistan. There is much we share in our history, culture, and traditions. We are confident that we can strengthen our relationship in all fields. Koreans are proactive and responsive, which makes it a lot easier to work together,” said Mukadam.

Many delegations are coming from Pakistan for commerce, KOICA short courses, conferences, seminars, private businesses, etc. Last year on August 27, the embassy held a successful investor’s seminar with the Korea-Pakistan Friendship Association and the Korea International Trade Association (KITA). Mukadam also plans to take a delegation of 30-40 Korean investors to Pakistan in February. Mukadam laments that one hindrance to the two nations’ relations is the absence of a direct flight between the two countries and he hopes that such a flight will become available in the near future.

“Everyone in Pakistan knows Samsung and LG and companies such as Lotte, Sambu, K Water, Doosan, and Daewoo are working on various projects in Pakistan. In 1997, Daewoo built a highway between Lahore and Islamabad about the same length between Seoul and Busan and is running an intra-city bus service. There is a lot of activity going on, but we hope to expand the economic sphere and trade activity further. We want Korean companies to have a larger share of the Pakistani market,” said Mukadam.

Pakistan is a very promising market with a population of more than 180 million people. Pakistan’s agricultural sector is also well developed with 60% of the population rurally based and their means of livelihood being agriculture. Mukadam hopes Pakistan and Korea and strengthen ties in the agricultural sector.

In the education sphere, Pakistan has some MOUs with universities and the embassy is looking to expand educational links with Korea.

Mukadam also shared about the vibrant Pakistani community in Korea. There are about 10,300 Pakistanis living in Korea: about 4,400 workers, 600 students and the rest, small businessmen. There are almost a hundred Pakistanis who have become Korean nationals. They have lived here for 20 years or so, have married Koreans and are happily settled.

“It is a very exciting time to be in this region with the leadership change in Japan, China, South Korea and North Korea. These are new, challenging, changing and interesting times. In these next 4~5 years,  I’m very curious to see how this new leadership will shape the region as they deal with economic and political issues, territorial disputes, the military, nuclear power, etc. I hope the new leadership will show maturity and maintain peace in the Korean peninsula as it is directly linked with the region and the world at large,” said Mukadam.

“It is a big change for a woman leader to be elected as president for the first time. I’m sure this will bring much change to the Korean society. We are confident that Korea is in good hands with the leadership of President-elect Park as she is very experienced, has seen politics and how her father worked to develop Korea,” he continued.

Introducing Korean food to Pakistan is another of Mukadam’s ambitions. “Chinese and Japanese food is widely known in Pakistan, but few know what Korean food is. I personally really enjoy bibimbap. I would like to introduce Korean food to Pakistan and encourage much exchange about our food and cultures,” he said.

Ambassador Shaukat Ali Mukadam began his term in Korea in July 2010. He enjoys living in Seoul and is deeply interested in Korean culture. He enjoys visiting museums, watching cultural performances and traveling to different cities in his free time. “In retrospect, if I started learning Korean when I first arrived, I could have learned quite a bit. But, life has been so busy taking care of delegations and participating in the many activities of the diplomatic circle. During my stay in Korea, what I regret most is not being able to have a good command of the Korean language, which could have led me to deeply understand Korea and its culture.”

Ambassador Shaukat Ali Mukadam majored in science at the university and joined the Foreign Service in 1989. He has held various diplomatic assignments in Amman, Baghdad, Dublin, and Bahrain.