Africa Carries Great Potential for Pakistan | Speakers @ ISSI Forum
Tazeen Akhtar
Ambassadors and experts on international relations and africa have emphasized on enhancing the cooperation and interactions with Africa without any further looking forward only but with practical steps and measures taken as early as possible.
They shared this at celebration of Africa Day hosted by ISSI in Islamabad. They said Africa is the continent of today and Pakistan has few years to shape up the close partnerships with the continent bilaterally or at multilateral level. After one decade, the copetition in Africa will be too hard to match. India, China, EU, Japan, Turkiye have forged close partnerships with Africa.
Speakers included Ambassador Khalid Mahmood, Chairman, BoG, Chief Guest, Engineer Khurram Dastagir Khan; Former Minister of Trade, Energy, Power, Defense and Foreign Affairs of Pakistan, Keynote Speaker, Ambassador Brahim Romani, Acting Dean of African Diplomatic Corps and Ambassador of Algeria to Pakistan, H.E. Mahmoud Ali Youssouf; Chairperson of the African Union Commission and Ambassador Hamid Asghar Khan; Additional Foreign Secretary (Africa), Ministry of Foreign Affairs, Pakistan.
Ambassador Khalid Mahmood extended warm greetings to African nations on the occasion of 63rd Africa Day and reaffirmed Pakistan’s commitment to strengthening its partnership with Africa.
Mahmoud Ali Youssouf said that Africa’s vision is rooted in unity, integration, dignity, and development, and on Africa Day the Continent reaffirms its commitment to Agenda 2063 and “The Africa We Want.”
Khurram Dastagir Khan pointed out Defense and security as major sectors for bilateral cooperation and said , the sides have not discussed this sector that is quite promising if the sides work on it. He said cooperation in defense training and industry is possible.
Ambassador Algeria Brahim Romani, on behalf of his government and the members of African diplomatic missions extended congratulations to Pakistan on mediation between US and Iran. He said , the mediation was very difficult task but Pakistan did it successfully.
Ambassador Brahim Romani noted that Pakistan was among the first countries to support African liberation movements, a legacy that Africa deeply appreciates. He said this historic goodwill should now be translated into stronger economic cooperation and expanded trade.
Ambassador Hamid Asghar Khan noted that global geopolitical and economic shifts make it important for Pakistan to deepen engagement with Africa through South-South cooperation. He highlighted Africa’s vast untapped potential, especially in agriculture, food security, and natural resources, and its role as a future breadbasket.
Highlighting Africa’s vast opportunities and Pakistan’s expertise in industry, science, research and technology, he called for closer institutional and business linkages, more active embassy engagement, and greater participation from the private sector.
Ambassador of Egypt Dr. Ihab Mohamed Abdelhamid Hassan shed light on the benefits of African Free Trade Area and mentioned the cooperation Egypt extends to African countries for managment of water. Ambassador presented a view on bilateral relations with Pakistan in Trade, Education, Culture and P2P.
Naeem Khan enlightened the participants about the potential Africa carries and that Pakistan can tap in one decade if the practical steps are taken from today.
Ambassadors & High Commissioners of Egypt, Kenya, Mauritius,Nigeria, South Africa, Sudan,Somalia, Tunisia, Zimbabwe spoke on the topic and shared their point of view. Ambassadors of Libya and Ethiopia were not present. Ethiopian DHM represented the mission.
Ambassador of Egypt Dr. Ihab Mohamed Abdelhamid Hassan, Ambassador of Sudan Salih Mohamed Ahmed, High Commissioner of Kenya Peter Mbogo Njiru, Acting High Commissioner of South Africa Rudolph Pierre Jordaan,High Commissioner of Zimbabwe Titus Mehliswa Johnathan Abu Basutu,High Commissioner of Mauritius Munsoor Kurrimbaccus, Deputy Head of Mission of Morocco Ahmed Drif,Charge d, Affaires of Tunisia Dorsaf Maaroufi Arfaoui, Charge d, Affaires of Nigeria High Commission Yushau Mohammed shared their views on the prospects of cooperation.
Among Pakistani Missions in Africa, Naeem Khan from Rwanda with achreditation to Angola and Brundi was present at the event while online Ambassadors Aqsa Nawaz from Djibouti, Amir Shaukat from Egypt, Asif Iqbal from Libya, Noor Nabi from Ghana, Mehmood Akhtar from Ivorycoast, Bilal Mohsin from Uganda participated and shared their feedback regarding potential in their respective countries. Shoaib Mansoor from Kenya, Mohammad Imran from Nigeria, Saima Saeed from Tanzania, Hassan M Rabbani from South Africa and Aziz Khan could not join online for technical reasons.
