Islamabad: Adviser to Prime Minister on Commerce, Industries and Investment Abdul Razak Dawood has announced that Pakistan is eager to increase bilateral ties and economic cooperation with African countries over the next five years, according to news sources.
He made this announcement while speaking at the ‘Pak-Africa Trade Development Conference’ held at Nairobi in Kenya. The advisor stressed on boosting the trade volume between Pakistan and African countries, which at present is nominal.
Razak
Dawood said that this conference arranged by the Commerce Ministry aims to
bring businessmen from Africa on a unified platform to explore new avenues for
trade enhancement and promoting communication between Africa and Pakistan. He
said that Africa-Pakistan trade has remained stalled at a nominal value of USD
3 billion for many years and that needs to change.
The
PM’s aide also called for reduced tariff and non-tariff barriers on both sides
to encourage bilateral ties. It was also revealed that the Ministry of Commerce
has already drafted and forwarded a ‘Look Africa Policy Initiative’, which is a
reflection of Pakistan’s broader policy towards Africa.
Razak
opined that both sides need to exchange more processed and manufactured goods,
transfer more knowledge and create value. He revealed that Pakistan’s commerce
ministry is opening six new trade wings in the embassies of Algeria, Ethiopia,
Egypt, Sudan, Senegal and Tanzania. He
said that Pakistan is open to business proposals from Africa.
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