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For hike in exports to Africa: Pakistan increases commercial councilors to 12

By Khalid Mustafa
December 22, 2017

ISLAMABAD: In order to tap the potential of trade with African countries, Pakistan has adopted an aggressive trade diplomacy by increasing the strength of commercial councilors in Africa from 4 to 12 besides hiring 20 local trade development officers (TDOs) under Look Africa Plan and to this effect the commerce ministry has sent a summary to the PM Secretariat for approval, a senior official told The News.

“There is a mammoth potential to explore the market for Pakistan’s goods, commodities and services in African countries and the Government of Pakistan intends to increase bilateral trade with them up to $5 billion in five years span from the existing $ 1 billion.”

The Commerce Ministry on August 17, 2017 approved ‘Look Africa Plan’ with stringent measures to boost bilateral trade between Pakistan and Africa in the upcoming years.

To this effect, the official said the commerce ministry had planned to extend stimulus to its trade diplomacy to exploit the trade potential in Africa at the maximum.

“We have our four commercial councilors’ offices in Africa and have decided to increase commercial councilors up to 12 with increase of 8. Four commercial councilors will be relocated to the 10 African countries and four will be appointed by the Government of Pakistan. Since in Africa, French and local languages are used and English language is rarely spoken there, that’s why 20 local educated youth will be hired as trade development officers for marketing Pakistan products there.

Currently, Pakistan has only 13 joint ministerial commissions with African countries that are not sufficient for institutional strengthening of both sides.

The JMCs are only with Algeria, Senegal, Morocco, Egypt, Kenya, Libya, Niger, Nigeria, South Africa, Sudan, Tunisia, Uganda, and Zimbabwe. Even the meetings of the JMCs take place after a gap of 5 to 10 years. Pakistan has never been in trade with Africa at larger scale since long but after studying the said continent’s potential, the top mandarins have felt that the mammoth potential for export of Pakistan products lies in Africa.

It may not be out of place to mention here that exports from India to African countries currently stand at $35 billion, whereas Pakistan’s exports to Africa are nominal.

China has also succeeded to make inroads in Africa’s market but still there is a lot of room for Pakistan. Africa is also more important to Pakistan for imports. Pakistan has so far imported coal valuing $650 million for Port Qasim and Sahiwal power plants for power generation.

Pakistan has already prioritized six sectors to promote its exports to African countries – pharmaceuticals and surgical instruments, electrical appliances, rice, wheat, corn, textiles, cement and construction materials and services.

Pakistan’s share in total trade of African countries stands at 0.3 per cent, as against the Africa’s total trade volume of $3 trillion. Under the policy, top 10 countries out of the 54 African nations selected trade promotion include Nigeria, Kenya, South Africa, Morocco, Algeria, Egypt, Sudan, Tanzania, and Ethiopia.

All these countries constitute 78pc of the total African gross domestic product (GDP). Pakistan plans to offer to negotiate a preferential trade agreement with three African trading blocs – Southern African Customs Union (SACU), East African Community (EAC), and Economic Community of West African States that constitute (ECOWAS).

SACU members are Botswana, Lesotho, Namibia, South Africa and Swaziland while EAC comprises of Burundi, Kenya, Rwanda, South Sudan, Tanzania, and Uganda.

A similar PTA with ECOWAS, which includes Benin; Burkina Faso; Cabo Verde; Côte d’Ivoire; Gambia; Ghana; Guinea; Guinea Bissau; Liberia; Mali; Niger; Nigeria; Senegal; Sierra Leone; and Togolese, is also envisioned.

The value of bilateral trade between the countries is less than $100 million.

As per policy, joint working groups (JWGs) on trade will be established by the commerce ministry to engage major African countries to have regular interaction.

Out of 54 countries, Pakistan has resident missions only in 15 African countries – Egypt, Libya, Algeria, Tunisia, Morocco, Senegal, Nigeria, Niger, South Africa, Mauritius, Zimbabwe, Tanzania, Kenya, Sudan and Ethiopia. The remaining 39 countries are covered through accreditation.

The Trade Development Authority of Pakistan has been asked to provide 80pc to 90pc special subsidy to Pakistani companies to encourage their participation in trade exhibitions in Africa and to sponsor delegations to and from Africa on regular basis.