Somalia wants trade, education cooperation

Khadija Al-Makhzoumi, the ambassador of Somalia in Pakistan, has said both Somalia and Pakistan have been developing fruitful and close cooperation for the past 60 years.

Somalia's relations with Pakistan have remained strong, Al-Makhzoumi said, noting that the ties continued even through a period of civil war when the Pakistani military contributed as part of a UN peacekeeping operation in southern Somalia leading up to the infamous American operation.

Apart from the strong diplomatic ties, she said that both countries continue to enjoy an active commercial relationship, trading a variety of commodities.

In 2008-2009, she said that Somalia exported goods worth around $34.822 billion to Pakistan. In return, Islamabad sold it $17.782 billion worth of goods.

Somalia's main export commodities were the country's livestock sector, which in 2009 included $3.19 million worth of raw hides and skins, $1.044 million of raw sheep and lambskins, $0.137 million in sheep and lambskin leather, $0.225 million in raw hides and skins of bovine and equine animals, and $0.033 million in the leather of bovine and equine animals.

On the other hand, Pakistan's exports to Somalia that year included sustenance products such as $53.254 million in rice, $0.627 million in medicament mixtures, $10.4 million in non-cocoa sugar confectionery, and $0.2 million in shawls, scarves, mufflers, mantillas and similar garments, she added.

To a question about the ‘Look Africa’ policy, the ambassador said that the Ministry of Foreign Affairs had done well by organizing a conference of the country’s envoys in the African continent to enhance cooperation.

Published in The Express Tribune, August 20^th, 2020.