ISLAMABAD: Adviser to Prime Minister on Commerce Abdul Razak Dawood has announced that Pakistan’s trade with African countries has reached $4.18 billion in 2019-20, which was increased by seven percent as compared to the previous year (2018-19).
In an interview with the national news agency, Razak Dawood said that as a result of Pakistan’s new engagement with African countries through ‘Look Africa Campaign’, despite COVID-19 pandemic, exports to Africa increased by seven percent in 2019-20 from $1.38 billion in 2018-19 to $1.48 billion in 2019-20.
Replying to a query on the surge in trade with African countries, he said that Pakistan’s trade with Africa remained stagnant at $3 billion per year for the last few years but because of PTI government’s trade policies, now multilateral trade with African region crossed the mark of US $4 billion.
He added that the main reason for the low trade volume was the low level of engagement of Pakistan with Africa. “Traditionally, rice has been our top export to Kenya and other African countries,” he informed.
However, he said, the government was planning to enhance exports of Pharmaceuticals, Surgical goods and Light Engineering and Electronic products including Tractors and Agricultural implements.
“We are taking different initiatives including six new Commercial Sections have been opened in Algeria, Egypt, Ethiopia, Senegal, Sudan and Tanzania, in addition to four existing Commercial Sections in Kenya, Morocco, Nigeria and South Africa, to cover top ten economies of Africa,” he added.
