Greater diplomatic engagement with African states stressed

Pakistan should
seek to diversify its relations with African countries by fostering cooperation
in the untapped areas of mutual interest as this will not only strengthen the
country’s global standing on diplomatic, political, economic and cultural
fronts, but will also help augment the Kashmir issue at international forums.

These thoughts were shared in a meeting organized at Institute of Policy Studies (IPS), Islamabad in collaboration with Centre for Asian African Studies (CAAS) on July 15, 2020 with a view to build understanding of Africa’s socio-political and economic landscape as well as the significance it may hold for Pakistan’s global standing going forward.

The keynote speaker was Ambassador (r) Tajammul Altaf whereas the other speakers included Executive President IPS Khalid Rahman, Farzana Yaqoob, Founding Director, CAAS, Syed Mohammad Ali, senior policy analyst and research fellow at IPS, and Kulsoom Belal, research officer (IR) at IPS.

Discussing the geopolitical importance of African continent and states for Pakistan, it was pointed out that the world’s second largest and second most populous continent after Asia had the footprints of all major global powers such as the US, China, Russia and even India. Pakistan, on the other hand, had 28 embassies/high commissions on the continent since 1947, but 13 of them were closed down in the era of former president Pervez Musharraf. Pakistan currently has resident missions in 15 African countries which include Algeria, Ethiopia, Egypt, Kenya, Libya, Niger, Mauritius, Morocco, Nigeria, Senegal, South Africa, Sudan, Tanzania, Tunisia, and Zimbabwe. These countries are mostly in northern Africa and incidentally have large populations while nine of them are also members of OIC.

The government of Pakistan, since last year, has started focusing on Africa with its ‘Look Africa Policy’. In line with this, the government has announced that five more embassies – in Djibouti, Rwanda, Uganda, Ghana and Ivory Coast – will be established in the first phase, whereas another five will be set up in the second phase.

Sharing his views, Ambassador (r) Tajammul suggested that Pakistan’s additional missions in the second phase should be decided on the basis of three factors – members of OIC, GDP (nominal), and IMF and World Bank reports on the fastest growing economies in Africa. Based on these factors, he proposed Benin, Burkina Faso and Cameroon as the countries that Pakistan should look up. He viewed that the focus of opening of these missions should be to seek support of these countries at the OIC, UN and its affiliated organizations not only on the Kashmir dispute but on other matters of the Muslim world as well.

The discussion also explored various ways Pakistan can diversify its relations with African states. Given the enormity of the continent and its diverse issues and challenges, it was stressed that Pakistan should seek to enhance bilateral relations with African countries on diplomatic, political, economic, academic and cultural fronts. It was stressed that Pakistan should invite African Union to establish its office in the country, whereas suggestions were also made to study the opportunities that ACFTA (African Continent Free Trade Agreement) may hold for Pakistan. In addition, the trade potential of light engineering equipment manufactured in Gujrat and Gujranwala for Africa was also underscored.

Besides augmenting trade ties, the session also highlighted that Pakistan can help Africa in developing civil nuclear technology under the guidelines of International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA). It was also suggested that Pakistan should engage Africa diplomatically in its stance on different issues through African representatives in the UN.

The discussion also delved into the history and colonial past of Africa, due to which most countries still lack autonomy or complete sovereignty. Citing corruption and bad governance as the dominant challenges faced by the African countries, it was noted that Africa is now consolidating its presence on the map of the world through multilateral platforms like ACFTA.