Pakistan's Trade Policy towards Prioritized African States: A Case of South-South Cooperation

Abstract

African continent is an expanding market of almost 1.26 billion people as well as a shared GDP of $ 2.60 trillion and having rich natural reserves, mineral resources as well as raw material, along with; this region is moving towards rapid economic growth, expanding infrastructure and global connectivity. Since the independence of Pakistan in 1947, the major phases of Pakistan’s foreign policy up till 2015, had not addressed the precise relationship between the African regions in terms of economic cooperation. Hence, Pakistan has initiated to focus on Africa through ‘Pakistan Africa Policy Initiative” to enhance trade, economic and diplomatic relations with the region. The research has produced knowledge on a very new area of research such as Pakistan’s trade policy towards Prioritized African States through exploring the perspectives on Pakistan’s Africa Policy, South-South Cooperation, and Pakistan’s bilateral trade with prioritized African states, trade relations of prioritized African states with their trading partners as well as Pakistan and African perspectives on BRI or CPEC for better understanding of the case of South-South Cooperation