PAKISTAN ALL SET TO ‘ENGAGE AFRICA’

Mahtab Bashir

Islamabad

03335363248

mahtabbashir@gmail.com

With the world now crossed by a latticework of connections, the age of territorial conquest is largely over but skirmishes are not. Now, it’s an age of connectivity and those who are good in bilateral trade, investment and economic cooperation are the one who follows the cliché ‘survival of the fittest’ no matter what.

With this belief and commitment, the ambassador of Pakistan to Morocco Hamid Asghar Khan said that ‘not missile-race but strengthening of economy and regional connectivity are the tools to dominate the region’.

Hamid Asghar Khan in an informal chit-chit at Islamabad Club said that China has a trade volume of US$ 150b with African. India, to whom we take on as our foe, has US$ 70b, Turkey having US$ 50b and Pakistan’s trade with African countries is merely by US$ 4.3b adding Africa will emerge as a World Big Market in 2020 and Pakistan will have to catch Africa at African Union partnership levels.

The ambassador said, he categorically told the Prime Minister that over the period of 12 years, Pakistan has not sign any agreement, treaty, deal with any African Country- that has pushed us way back.”      

In a context to a two-day Envoy’s Conference titled ‘Engage Africa’, the ambassador told this scribe that he had given a comprehensive presentation to the Prime Minister Imran Khan focusing Pakistan’s trade, economic and cultural ties with the Morocco in general and African’s countries in Particular.

On a positive vibe, the ambassador said Pakistan has decided to set-up six new diplomatic missions in African countries on an urgent basis in a bid to improve trade ties with them. “These countries include Djibouti, Angola, Rwanda, Uganda, Ghana and Ivory Coast.”

Khan said besides, Pakistan will also open commercial sections in Algeria, Ethiopia, Senegal Nigeria and Kenya. He told that press attaches will be posted in seven African countries. “Next year (2020), Pakistan will organise an international investment and trade conference in Kenya’s capital, Nairobi”, he added.

The ambassador said “We are particularly interested in four areas to promote and project our foreign policy in African. They are namely, political engagement through Pakistani missions, commercial engagement through chambers and business and commerce forums, military to military cooperation and projection of soft image.

Ambassador Hamid informed that Special Assistant to PM on Information & Broadcasting Dr Firdous Ashiq Awan has directed the PTV to provide popular TV dramas to Pakistani missions in Africa free of cost so that they could be dubbed in the local language and telecast on their TV channels.

Sports diplomacy is also part of our policy to bring Pakistan and the African nations closer, he said. “Pakistani top movie star Humayun Saeed has agreed to shoot his next movie in Morocco and Pakistani mission will extend all possible support to him in this regard,” he said.

A seasoned diplomat who joined Civil Services in 1992, Hamid Asghar Khan said an Africa task force has been formed at the Foreign Office to implement the decisions made at the recently concluded ‘Engage Africa Conference’ in Islamabad. “Africa is the second largest continent in the world, spreading over 20% of the world landmass and a collective GDP of over $2.3 trillion. It offers an import market of around $500 billion”, he said adding India has signed a number of trade agreements with African countries but we are progressing with snail-pace.

 

He said Pakistan currently has 15 resident missions in the African countries. “India will have 47 missions in Africa, Turkey has 46 out of 54 total number of countries in the continent”, he said adding these countries already has grown up trade of 70b.

During the conference, the ambassador said, diplomats discussed ways to enhance Pakistan’s diplomatic, economic and cultural ties with the continent. Several think-tanks presented their viewpoints on increasing access to African markets. At the conclusion of the conference, proposals from experts were presented to Prime Minister Imran Khan.

Due to its rich natural resources and growing middle-class consumer market, the World Bank has predicted that most African countries will reach middle-income status by 2025. This presents a tremendous opportunity for Pakistani goods and services, Hamid Khan said.

Terming Africa a continent of the future, the ambassador said the current “age of geo-strategic connectivity” demanded of Pakistan to be part of it and address the growing traditional and non-traditional threats in domain of economy and security.

Hamid Asghar Khan said in his ‘candid and hard-hitting’ presentation, he said Prime minister was not aware of facts and figures (of trade volume) with African countries. “They (Africans) are not living in caves (as we presume), they are the emerging world economy, Morocco has signed FTA with EU, it is exporting electricity to Spain, EU considered Morocco as Prime Favoured Partner (PFP)”, he told.

He regretted that ties with African countries were not given priority in Pakistan’s external relations in the past because there was lack of innovation and creativity in running the foreign policy.

The ambassador called for appointments of cultural attachés, increasing the frequency of business interactions, high-level contacts and close people-to-people relations. “Pakistan is committed to a substantial policy on maintaining a meaningful relationship with Africa. Only through constructive engagement, we can achieve the goal of economic integration for win-win solutions”, he concluded. *