Understanding East African Region
Pakistan advised to learn from China’s experience in Africa, leadership diplomacy stressed
Pakistan can learn a lot from China’s successful engagement and robust foreign policy on Africa, which have remained consistent over the years since the establishment of the People’s Republic of China and are aimed at human and infrastructure development in the neglected African continent. The approach has earned China many political, economic, diplomatic and strategic dividends. Pakistan should also capitalize on its already existing goodwill in Africa owing to its historic role in the decolonization of several African nations and its significant contribution to the UN peacekeeping missions in the conflict-riven zones of the African continent.
This view was presented at a seminar titled ‘Understanding East African Region’ organized by the Institute of Policy Studies (IPS) under its ‘Understanding Africa Program’ on December 9, 2021. Ambassador (r) Tajammul Altaf, a senior research associate at IPS, was the session’s keynote speaker, which was chaired by the IPS’ Vice Chairman Ambassador (r) Syed Abrar Hussain.
Underlining the potential of the East African Region in his presentation, Altaf said that it is the most populous region in Africa comprising 19 countries which are rich in natural resources, minerals, oil and gas, diamonds, gold, and iron ore. However, terrorism, abject poverty, poor governance, conflicts, and uneven models of development are the biggest challenges in the region, he pointed.
Regarding China’s economic development model in Africa, the keynote speaker was of the view that China’s Africa Policy has remained consistent, proactive, and dynamic till date and President Xi Jinping has further augmented it after assuming the presidency of China in 2013 by increasing Chinese Foreign Direct Investment (FDI), from US$ US$ 51.9 million in the 1950s to US$ 57.24 billion in 2013. From 2016 to 2020, investment in infrastructure projects in Africa reached US$200 billion. He added that by 2017, China’s total investment in African seaports amounted to US$ 25.549 billion covering 24 seaports in 20 African countries. Moreover, till 2019 China has further invested in financing, constructing, and operating 46 seaports in West Africa, East Africa, Central Africa, and Southern Africa apart from apportioning preferential loans for them, and pumping money in various sectors including infrastructure, communication, transportation, mining and extraction.
Commenting on the Engage Africa Intuitive of the incumbent government of Pakistan, Tajammul Altaf highlighted that the government approved and announced in 2020 opening of five new embassies/high commissions in Africa. He added that so far only one embassy has been opened in Rwanda and Ambassadors have been appointed to Djibouti and Ghana but Embassies are yet to be fully made functional. Once new embassies become functional, total number of embassies in the East African Region will increase to 9 from the current 7 embassies.
He recalled that neither Pakistani prime minister nor president have visited any African countries nor African leaders have visited Pakistan from 2018 till date, whereas first three foreign visits out of four of President Xi Jinping, after assuming the presidency of China in 2013, were to Africa. To date, President Xi has paid 4 separate visits to the African countries.
The former ambassador also urged the Pakistani leadership to proactively pursue leadership diplomacy and formally visit East African countries and invite their counterparts to visit Pakistan. Likewise, apart from meetings of the Chief of Army Staff with his African counterparts at Munich Security Conferences, Pakistan’s defence authorities should invite African defence ministers and senior officials to the International Defence Exhibition and Seminar (IDEAS) to further promote already burgeoning defence cooperation. He also underlined the need of augmenting Government to Government, Business to Business and People to People contacts and parliamentary exchanges. He also stressed the need to open new missions in countries where Pakistan had deployed its troops under UN peacekeeping missions to tap on the existing goodwill.
To strengthen people-to-people contacts between Pakistan and the East African Region, the speaker emphasized for allocating more seats for East African students in Pakistani universities and offering more capacity-building courses to state officials. Moreover, he advised the government of Pakistan to join hands with friendly countries like China, the UAE, and Turkey that have invested heavily in the region to build longstanding bilateral and multilateral relations with African countries.
Concluding the session, Syed Abrar Hussain lauded Ambassador (r) Tajammul Altaf on giving the elaborate presentation, and underscored the need for Pakistan to rid of a myopic view of Africa which has kept Pakistan away from reaping the benefits of its existing goodwill in the region.
