Pakistan's ambassador to Korea shared ideas to commemorate the 40th anniversary of Pakistan-Korea relations this year in a meeting with Korea Herald CEO Choi Jin-young.

During his courtesy visit to The Korea Herald, Nabeel Munir suggested to enhance media cooperation through content exchange, facilitate business at many levels and activate people-to-people ties through tourism. Pakistan established diplomatic relations with South Korea in November 1983.

Korean companies have made huge investments in Pakistan, said Munir, citing Kia and Lotte as two examples. He hoped for further investments from Korean companies and promotion in bilateral trade.

"We have already started discussions on signing an FTA with Korea," he said, referring to free trade agreement negotiations.

Pakistan-Korea bilateral trade hit $1.69 billion in 2022, according to data from the Ministry of Foreign Affairs.

"Korean President Yoon Seok Yeol has never visited Pakistan; the last foreign minister from Korea who visited Pakistan was Ban Ki-moon," said Munir, with hopes of reinvigorating the bilateral partnership through high-level visits during the envoy's tenure.

He also showed commitment to presenting the tourism potential of Pakistan to Koreans, including the mountains, deserts, seas and buddhist heritage of Pakistan, such as the art of Gandhara.

"Buddhism came to Korea from Pakistan," stressed Munir, hoping to strengthen historical linkages between Pakistan and Korea.

Nabeel Munir is a career diplomat who started working for diplomatic assignments at Pakistan missions abroad in 1997. He also served as deputy permanent representative for Pakistan’s Permanent Mission to the United Nations in New York from 2012–2019.