Alvi urges greater collaboration with African countries

President opens ‘Engage Africa Conference’ at foreign ministry

ISLAMABAD: President Dr Arif Alvi on Wednesday stressed the need for greater collaboration between Pakistan and the African nations to address the common challenges of poverty and illiteracy, besides their cooperation in trade and security.

Addressing the inaugural session of the two-day ‘Engage Africa Conference’ at the foreign ministry, Alvi linked poverty elimination to peace, and called on the governments to adopt a people-centric approach in security-related strategy.

“People in misery look for opportunities and cross borders to be safe, therefore the world has a responsibility to give both peace and economic prosperity a chance,” Alvi told the conference, pointing to the continued exploitation of poor nations even after the end to colonialism.

“It is important at the global level to encourage trade partnerships for the mutual benefit of countries,” he said, adding that the Africa continent, with a population of 1.2 billion people across 54 sovereign states, presented a tremendous opportunity for Pakistani goods and services.

“Pakistan has a brilliant history of relationship with Africa in view of its participation in the United Nations peacekeeping efforts in the conflict-hit areas,” he said. However, he stressed the need for setting targets keeping in view the future scenario for better integration.

Alvi said the Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) government was considering reactivation of the country’s ties with the African countries, describing the ‘Engage Africa Conference’ a “good step” towards engaging diplomats through foreign ministry to devise a future plan of cooperation.

He asked Pakistani diplomats in Africa to focus on trade and tourism within the countries of their postings and revive the culture of courtesy and listening to the problems of the expatriates. He proposed increasing the number of resident missions in Africa to enhance bilateral cooperation.

“Communication between Pakistan and Africa is important for the world peace,” Alvi said, expressing his confidence that “with an outstanding prime minister and a brilliant foreign minister, there are good chances for the growth in Pakistan’s trade and tourism”.

Pakistan to host envoys conference focused on Africa

Alvi said Pakistan’s economy was gaining strength, following improvement in the security situation and consumers were getting prosperous. “This is like the emergence of a beautiful country out of the decades-long cloud cover of terrorism.”

After suffering terrorism for 40 years, the president said, Pakistan had learned the lesson that societies must not be polarised from within. He emphasised that currently, a country at the eastern border was now falling to the similar trap.

President Alvi mentioned that Prime Minister Imran Khan built a strong narrative at the United Nations General Assembly (UNGA) on global economic priorities, money laundering, Kashmir dispute and Islamophobia.

Pointing to the threat from climate change to the countries worldwide, President Alvi proposed convening of a South Asian Association for Regional Cooperation (Saarc) conference on environment to avert the dangers facing the region.

Earlier, Foreign Minister Shah Mehmood Qureshi told the audience that the idea of convening the conference was to deepen links with Africa and add an economic thrust to the diplomatic relations. He added that Pakistan remained an ardent supporter of their struggle against colonialism.

Terming Africa a continent of the future, the minister 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.

“As part of the UN peacekeeping operations, Pakistan has made significant contribution to peace, security and development of Africa. Pakistan has assisted in Africa;s capacity-building in education with over 700 diplomats from 52 countries getting training at the Foreign Service Academy,” he said.

He called for increasing the frequency of business interactions, high-level contacts and close people-to-people relations. “The government wants to create an effective partnership with African countries in the areas of economy and food security,” he said.

“Pakistan is committed to a substantial policy on maintaining a meaningful relationship with Africa,” he said. “Only through constructive engagement, we can achieve the goal of economic integration for win-win solutions,” he said.

He Foreign Secretary Sohail Mehmood dilated on the objectives of the conference, saying that Pakistan wanted to strengthen ties with African nations in diverse fields. Adviser to Prime Minister on Commerce Abdul Razak Dawood and senior officials were present.

Africa is the second largest continent in the world, spreading over 20% of the world landmass and a collective gross domestic predict (GDP) of over $2.3 trillion. It offers an import market of around $500 billion. Pakistan currently has 15 resident missions in the African countries.

During the conference, diplomats will discuss ways to enhance Pakistan's diplomatic, economic and cultural ties with the continent. The event also offers an opportunity to the information technology firms to display their products, which could be exported to African nations.

Also several think-tanks will present their viewpoints on increasing access to African markets. On the conclusion of the conference, the proposals from the experts will be presented to Prime Minister Imran Khan.