Luanda - Angolan diplomat, Júlio Maiato, was accredited as Angola's first non-resident ambassador to the Islamic Republic of Pakistan, upon handing over his credentials to the Pakistani Head of State, Asif Ali Zardari.
Júlio Maiato becomes the first extraordinary and plenipotentiary ambassador of the Republic of Angola to be accredited in Pakistan.
Upon handing over his official document to the Pakistani authorities, ambassador Júlio Maiato, with permanent residence in the United Arab Emirates, conveyed, on behalf of the Angolan Head of State, João Lourenço, the warmest greetings to the Pakistani leader and praised him for the openness shown towards strengthening the bilateral cooperation between the two countries.
According to Júlio Maiato, Angola and Pakistan will explore new commercial and economic areas, with emphasis on the textile, pharmaceutical, industrial and food security segments, in addition to education.
The Islamic Republic of Pakistan invests heavily in agriculture, industry and services. Its economic structure changed from a base strongly linked to agriculture to one strongly linked to the services sector.
Currently, agriculture is around 20% of the Gross Domestic Product (GDP), while the services sector is about 53% of GDP, of which 30% refers to wholesale and retail trade.
This country invests in textile, clothing, food processing, pharmaceutical products, construction materials, fertilizers, shrimp, paper products, as well as tourism, which continues attracting around 500,000 foreign tourists annually.
The Islamic country is a member of the United Nations (UN), the Shanghai Cooperation Organization (SCO) and the Organization of Islamic Cooperation (OIC), has a GDP valued at more than 348 billion dollars, a GDP growth rate of 6.5% and GDP per capita of USD 1,505.
Pakistan is located in the corridor of major sea and land transit routes, making its location geopolitically strategic. It bridges the energy-rich regions of Central Asia and the Middle East with the population centers of South and East Asia. The country also has geostrategic neighbouring states such as Afghanistan, China, India and Iran.
Pakistan has a population of over 200 million inhabitants and is the fifth most populous country in the world and has the second largest Muslim community globally (after Indonesia).
In addition to Angola, the Pakistani Head of State, Asif Ali Zardari, also received the credentials from Luxembourg, Jamaica, Uruguay and Malta.
They are part of the coverage area of the Embassy of the Republic of Angola in Abu Dhabi, the Kingdom of Bahrain, the State of Kuwait, Afghanistan (currently the Islamic Emirate of Afghanistan), as well as the International Renewable Energy Agency (IRENA), headquartered in Abu Dhabi.
In March 2022, the Angolan government appointed Junaid Emam as Honorary Consul of the Republic of the Congo in Karachi with consular jurisdiction in Sindh province, while on 8 June 2022, Murad Baseer was accredited as Pakistan's non-resident ambassador to Angola.
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