Pakistan’s President Asif Ali Zardari held a mini-summit of
African ambassadors on 2 June to launch Islamabad’s first real forays
into Africa. In the style of Beijing’s Forum on China-Africa Cooperation, the aim is to increase commercial ties between Pakistan and its few African partners. African countries which currently have diplomatic representation in Islamabad include Algeria, Egypt,
Kenya, Libya, Mauritius, Morocco, Nigeria, Somalia, South Africa, Sudan and Tunisia. For reasons of geography and cultural and religious affinities, Pakistan largely trades with and treats with North and East Africa, but it has diplomatic representation in about ten African countries, with embassies in Cairo, Lagos, Port Louis and Pretoria. Like its Asian neighbours, Pakistan wants to build on its liberation-era support – diplomatic backing for Eritrea’s independence bid and financial assistance for Winnie Mandela – to create new markets for its exports and to help boost African development.
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