Pak registers 7% increase in trade with Africa despite COVID-19 pandemic, says Qureshi

Qureshi made the comments during a virtual meeting of Pakistans envoys in African countries, according to the Foreign Office.Underlining the shift from geo-politics to geo-economics, Foreign Minister Qureshi emphasized the importance of economic diplomacy as a key component of modern diplomatic practice, it said.

Pakistan has registered a 7 per cent increase in its trade with the African countries despite the COVID-19 pandemic, Foreign Minister Shah Mahmood Qureshi said on Wednesday. Qureshi made the comments during a virtual meeting of Pakistan's envoys in African countries, according to the Foreign Office.

Underlining the shift from geo-politics to geo-economics, Foreign Minister Qureshi emphasized the importance of economic diplomacy as a key component of modern diplomatic practice, it said. ''Pakistan had embarked on the 'Engage Africa' initiative, aimed at expanding its diplomatic footprint and deepening economic engagement with Africa,'' he said. He said, ''the initiative had started paying off, with a 7 per cent growth in Pakistan's trade with Africa, despite the COVID-19 related challenges.'' Noting the importance of Africa as the ''continent of future'', with 54 countries and a population of 1.3 billion, the foreign minister said Pakistan enjoyed friendly relations and political goodwill in African countries that needed to be translated into a more robust economic partnership.

He encouraged envoys to cultivate and broaden mutually beneficial trade and economic partnerships with African countries, focusing on key goals of trade promotion, financial inflows, investments, remittances, tourism and technology transfer. The diplomats apprised the foreign minister of their activities in the economic and commercial domain.