BEIJING – The ‘Engage Africa’ initiative aims to expand Pakistan’s foreigntrade market in breadth and depth, Since the launch of this initiative,Pakistan has achieved initial results with a 7% growth in its trade withAfrica despite the Covid-19 related challenges, Cheng Xizhong, visitingprofessor at Southwest University of Political Science and Law observed onFriday.
Pakistani Foreign Minister Makhdoom Shah Mahmood Qureshi while underliningthe importance of Africa as a “continent of future” has said that Pakistanenjoys friendly relations and political goodwill in African countries,which needs to be translated into a more robust economic partnership.
Since Prime Minister Imran Khan came to power, the Federal Government ofPakistan has been committed to developing its economy and increasingexports and has got miraculous achievements. Despite the novel coronavirus,Pakistan’s economy has recovered rapidly and exports have increasedsubstantially.
However, for a long time, Pakistan’s foreign trade has been dominated bythe United States, China, Europe and the Middle East.
The top three export destinations are the United States, China and theUnited Kingdom, he said in his article published by China Economic Net(CEN) on Friday.
When I participated in UN peacekeeping operations in Africa, I felt thatPakistan had a very important role in Africa. Pakistan is one of the majortroops contributing countries to UN peacekeeping. It has dispatched a largenumber of troops to various peacekeeping missions in Africa and has madegreat contributions to peace and stability in Africa.ALSO READ Growing populism, Hindutva, hegemony making India lose its mind:Chinese scholarlink
Africa has 54 sovereign countries with a total population of 1.3 billion.On the first day of this year, the African continent started trading underthe African Continental Free Trade Area (AfCFTA), which will greatlyenhance the relationship between Africa and its external trade partners.
As a matter of fact, the Imran Khan administration has long recognized theimportance of further westward expansion through the Middle East andopening up the African market, and for this purpose, Pakistan has embarkedon the “Engage Africa” initiative, aiming at expanding Pakistan’sdiplomatic footprint and deepening economic engagement with Africa.
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According to my observation, the “Engage Africa” initiative aims to expandPakistan’s foreign trade market in breadth and depth. Since the launch ofthis initiative, Pakistan has achieved initial results with a 7% growth inits trade with Africa despite the Covid-19 related challenges.
When I was in Africa, in terms of trade there, I was impressed by threepoints:First, the African market is huge. Africa’s annual import and export volumeis over 300 billion U.S. dollars, with an annual growth rate of 3%.ALSO READ China to work with Pakistan, other neighbors to build regionalcommunity with shared future for health: Hua Chunyinglink
I had a Chinese friend doing trade in Kinshasa, the capital of theDemocratic Republic of Congo. He was there mainly to investigate andanalyze the local demand for Chinese commodities and then sent theinformation back to his partner in China. His partner in China wasresponsible for purchasing and shipping to Kinshasa once a week. When theChinese goods arrived, they were snapped up by local retailers. Theirbusiness was booming there. Second, it is easy to make money in Africa.
Many African countries have no industry and processing industry, let alonethe heavy industry. Industrial products, daily necessities and officesupplies all depend on imports, and most of the African countries have noimport restrictions. Free trade is implemented, and merchants can import aslong as they pay taxes.
Third, the pharmaceutical market is very large. Most African countries areshort of medicines, especially anti-malarial medicines. Africa needs tospend 20 billion U.S. dollars a year importing anti-malarial medicines.
