Federal Minister for Information Technology and Telecommunication Shaza Fatima Khawaja has visited Pangyo Techno Valley in Seoul to explore opportunities for cooperation between Pakistan and South Korea in the digital economy and technology sectors, according to the Associated Press of Pakistan (APP). On arrival, the minister was briefed on the operations of the technology hub and its latest innovations, including developments in artificial intelligence (AI), semiconductors, and modern infrastructure. The visit is part of her trip to South Korea, during which she also met senior Google officials on 19 October on the sidelines of the Global AI and Digital Summit 2026 in Seoul, according to APP.
Khawaja said Pakistan could benefit from South Korea’s advanced technology models and that both countries had agreed to exchange technical knowledge and experiences. She said the objective was to open new avenues in modern technology for young people and provide them with promising opportunities. According to the minister, the visit would also create openings for collaboration and joint projects between Pakistani and South Korean startups. The visit was aimed at promoting Pakistan’s digital vision and establishing cooperation with leading global technology institutions, which fits with the wider purpose of the trip, since the minister has used her time in Seoul to meet both multilateral and private sector partners in addition to touring innovation spaces such as Pangyo.
Pangyo Techno Valley is located in Seongnam, just south of Seoul and roughly a 15-minute subway ride from Gangnam, and is widely described as South Korea’s Silicon Valley. According to TechCrunch, anchors there include Naver, often described as Korea’s Google, and Kakao, the country’s everything app, alongside game developers such as Nexon and NCSoft. Seoulz reports that the complex opened in 2011, spans 661,000 square metres, and houses more than 1,800 companies. Official figures cited in the same report show that about 91.5 percent of the companies are small and midsize businesses, while big tech accounts for 3.6 percent. The district has also been promoted as a place where startups can work alongside large firms and research institutions, and it has built an AI cluster intended to help AI startups reach global markets.
The visit follows other recent contacts between Pakistan and South Korea on technology. Khawaja met Korea’s Chargé d’Affaires Park Jae-lark in Islamabad earlier this year to discuss expanding bilateral cooperation in technology, and during the current trip she has also held talks with the World Bank’s regional vice president and visited the technology organisation DeltaX. The APP report on the Pangyo visit does not name any companies or institutions the minister met there, and it does not mention any agreements, memorandums of understanding, or specific projects. For Pakistani startups hoping to benefit from the new links, the next step will be turning the stated interest in joint projects into concrete programmes, and details of that follow-up were not part of the release.
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