Pakistan in brief

Raheela Nasrullah Khan

Raheela Nasrullah Khan earned a master’s degree in economics from the University of Punjab in Pakistan and worked as a teacher at schools in Pakistan, Jeddah in Saudi Arabia, and Doha in Qatar. Before accompanying her husband to Korea, she was an active member of the Pakistan Foreign Office Women Association, focusing on charity work. Here, she is the vice president and liaison of the Ambassadors Spouses’ Association in Seoul, where she continues to engage in voluntary missions.

She and her husband have one daughter, a graduate of Nottingham University in England who is currently completing her master’s in economics from the Lahore University of Management Sciences in Pakistan.

Zahid Nasrullah Khan

Pakistani ambassador to Korea

Born on Aug. 16, 1962, Zahind Nasrullah Khan has served as the ambassador of Pakistan to Korea since Dec. 18, 2013. Previously he held various diplomatic assignments in Pakistani missions abroad, in cities including Berne in Switzerland (1994-1997), Jeddah (2000-2004), London (2005-2007) and Doha (2007-2011). Khan earned a master’s degree in economics and development economics from the University of Warwick in England and joined the foreign service in 1987.

Pakistan in brief

Capital: Islamabad

Major cities: Karachi, Lahore, Faisalabad

Official languages: English, Urdu

Population: 191.7 million

Religion: Islam (96%)

Area: 310,403 square miles

Number of Korean expats: 10,341 (2011)

Steady exchange

Korea and Pakistan established diplomatic relations at the consular level in 1968, and at the ambassadorial level in 1983.

Bilateral trade between the two countries last year was $1.17 billion; Pakistani exports to Korea were worth $401.9 million and imports were worth $770 million. Top Korean imports from Pakistan are naphtha, woven fabrics of cotton, ethyl alcohol, copper waste, cotton yarn, fish and leather. Top Korean exports to Pakistan are light oils, vaccines, isocyanates, polypropylene, worn clothing, mechanical shovels, reactive dyes and flat-rolled iron products.

Growing investment

Last year, FDI from Korea into Pakistan was $33.6 million, up 217 percent from the $10.6 million in 2013. FDI from Korea to Pakistan from 2007 to 2014 reached $106.2 million. Major investments by Korean companies were found in the sectors of manufacturing, construction, wholesale and retail, and transportation.