South Korea’s state-run policy lender said it has agreed to offer a $76 million loan as part of the Economic Development Cooperation Fund to the Pakistani government to build an IT park in Islamabad, the capital of Pakistan.
The Export-Import Bank of Korea uses the EDCF to support industrialization and economic growth in developing countries as well as to promote bilateral economic exchanges. Since establishing the fund in 1987, the bank has provided $13.2 billion for 375 projects in 53 countries as of the end of 2016.
Chang Young-hoon (right), executive director of the Export-Import Bank of Korea, shakes hands with Tariq Mahmood Pasha, secretary of the economic affairs division of Pakistan, after signing on a $76 million EDCF agreement in Islamabad, Pakistan, Tuesday. Export-Import Bank of Korea
The construction of the IT Park is the Pakistani government’s one of the prioritized national projects. The IT industrial complex is expected to support Pakistan’s small and medium-sized software developers and enhance their competitiveness, the bank said.
The IT sector is one of the most rapidly growing sectors in Pakistan but there is a shortage of office space and related infrastructure.
Eximbank said it will also help Pakistan build communications networks and data centers within the IT Park with the support of Korean technologies.