Economic diplomacy urged to strengthen Pakistan’s relations with West Africa

Pakistan
should make use of its longstanding relations with West African countries and
practice effective economic diplomacy to elevate these ties to new scales.

The
need was urged in a webinar titled ‘Pakistan’s relations with West African
countries’, which was held by IPS on March 3, 2021 to explore opportunities and
underline challenges for Pakistan vis-à-vis West African countries. The
session, which was a part of IPS’ ‘Understanding Africa Program’, was addressed
as keynote speaker by Ambassador (r) Haroon Shaukat.

Reflecting
on the long history of bilateral relationship between Pakistan and West Africa,
the former ambassador opined that Pakistan’s longtime engagement with Africa is
marked by warmth, cordiality, mutual trust & understanding. He further
stated Pakistan had supported freedom movements in Algeria, Kenya, Sudan,
Zimbabwe, South Africa, Morocco, Libya, Egypt & Nigeria both morally and
materially. This support has earned Pakistan a lot of goodwill in the African
continent.

Shaukat
also brought into light Pakistan’s growing military ties with some African
countries. He mentioned that Pakistani armed forces have played an important
role in satiating defence needs of the African region as highlighted from the
fact that Nigeria has bought Super Mushshak Aircraft and JF-17 Thunder Jet from
Pakistan. Institutional engagement with the African Union (AU) has also earned
Pakistan $4.18 billion during 2019-20, he shared.

The
speaker accentuated the need for Pakistan to have a strong diplomatic presence
in Africa, without which the country cannot expect any big development in
bilateral relations with the African states. He believed economic diplomacy
must be the priority of Pakistan’s foreign policy vis-à-vis West African
countries, having special focus on domestic production and promotion of
exports, trade & investment.