- Pakistan’s links with Africa predate the creation of the country in 1947 as the Founder of Pakistan, Quaid-e-Azam Muhammad Ali Jinnah visited Egypt in 1946 which laid the foundation of building this common bond;
- Pakistan has the honour of strongly supporting the freedom struggles of Algeria, Tunisia and Morocco in the 1950s, even providing Pakistani diplomatic passports to their leaders during the anti-colonial struggle;
- Pakistan supported the struggle for independence of Libya and Eritrea at the United Nations and provided military, diplomatic and political support to the liberation movements of ANC in South Africa, ZANU-PF in Zimbabwe and SWAPO in Namibia;
Pakistan was at the forefront of opposing the racist apartheid regimes in South Africa ad Rhodesia; - Pakistan helped in military training, administrative capacity building, plus providing scholarships to students, technical expertise in areas of health, education and law to the newly independent African states.
- Pakistan has 60 year track record of the Pakistan Army serving Africa through participation in UN Peacekeeping Operations.
- Pakistani people have always had an affinity with struggles of people of Africa: in 1960, after the assassination of Patrice Lumumba, there was a huge solidarity demonstration in Lahore & one of the most famous poems of Pakistani popular poet, Faiz Ahmed Faiz, is ‘Come Back Africa’.
Areas of Cooperation
- Diplomacy & defence;
- Media, academia, think tanks;
- Economy, energy, education, environment and climate change;
- Business-to-business cooperation, trade, commerce & investment; promoting Human Rights, women’s rights, Youth empowerment, Gender Equality & rights of marginalised communities, poverty alleviation;
- Agriculture;
- Energy, Natural Resources, Mining & Minerals;
- Pursue Democratic path to development;
- Opposing racism & racial discrimination;
- Countering violent extremism & terrorism;
- Promoting the United Nations Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs);
- Science & Technology;
- Sports, Tourism & Culture, Preserving historical Heritage,
- Sharing struggles against colonialism & neocolonialism,
- Maritime Affairs & freedom of navigation;
- Blue Economy & Ocean Industry.
