1. Pakistan was accorded the sectoral dialogue status of ASEAN at the 26th

ASEAN Ministerial Meeting on 23 July 1993.

2. The inaugural meeting to establish the ASEAN-Pakistan Sectoral Dialogue

Relations was held on 5-7 November 1997 in Islamabad. The inaugural meeting

agreed that ASEAN-Pakistan Sectoral Dialogue would initially cover cooperation in

trade, industry, investment, environment, science and technology, drugs and

narcotics, tourism and human resources development.

3. The ASEAN-Pakistan Sectoral Dialogue Relations was institutionalised through

the convening of the First Meeting of the ASEAN-Pakistan Joint Sectoral Cooperation

Committee (APJSCC) on 5 February 1999 in Bali. Thus far, the APJSCC has met six

times. The second and third Meetings were held on 28 February-1 March 2001 and

5-6 June 2006 in Islamabad, while the fourth, fifth and sixth Meetings were convened

on 3 June 2008, 31 May 2011, and 2 November 2017 at the ASEAN Secretariat.

4. As a follow up to 6thAPJSCC Meeting, in July 2020 both sides adopted the

updated Terms of Reference of the AP-JSCC to be in line with the current

developments on both sides; and the ASEAN-Pakistan Sectoral Dialogue Partnership:

Practical Cooperation Areas (PCA) for 2019-2021, which serves as a practical

guidance to further substantiate the cooperation between both sides. The PCAs

focuses on the implementation of cooperation in the sectors of countering terrorism,

violent extremism and transnational crimes; food and agriculture; science, technology

and innovation; information and communication technology; tourism; disaster

management; culture; human resource development; connectivity; and narrowing

development gap and initiative for ASEAN integration.

B. Cooperation

5. Pakistan acceded to the Treaty of Amity and Cooperation in Southeast Asia on

2 July 2004 in Jakarta. On the same day Pakistan was also admitted as the 24th

participant of the ASEAN Regional Forum (ARF).

6. ASEAN and Pakistan signed the Joint Declaration for Cooperation to Combat

Terrorism at the sidelines of the 12thARF on 29 July 2005 in Vientiane. The

Declaration emphasises on the importance of having a framework for cooperation

between ASEAN-Pakistan to prevent, suppress, disrupt and combat international

terrorism through information exchange, intelligence sharing and capacity-building.

7. In trade, ASEAN and Pakistan have undertaken a Joint Feasibility Study for an

ASEAN-Pakistan Free Trade Agreement (FTA) to enhance and expand the overall

ASEAN-Pakistan economic engagement. The Joint Feasibility Study was done by

researchers of both sides: the Pakistan Institute of Development Economics (PIDE)

and the Malaysian Institute of Economic Research (MIER). At the 41stAEM held in

Bangkok, Thailand, on 13-14 August 2009, the Ministers noted the completion of the

Joint Study on the Feasibility of the ASEAN-Pakistan Free Trade Area and agreed to

defer consideration of the recommendations contained in the study. At the 43rd AEM

held on 10-11 August 2011 in Manado, Indonesia, the Economic Ministers agreed to

apply a moratorium on the proposal of Pakistan for an ASEAN-Pakistan FTA.

8. Foreign Direct Investment from Pakistan to ASEAN decreased significantly

from US$ 16.02 million in 2019 to US$ 8.30 million in 2020. Meanwhile, the total twoway

trade between ASEAN and Pakistan also experienced negative growth by 3.9 %

from US$ 7.05 billion in 2019 to US$ 6.77 billion in 2020.1

9. In tourism, the number of tourist arrivals from Pakistan to ASEAN in 2020 was

40,204 people, a decrease by 82.7% from 2019's figure which stood at 233,389

people.2

10. On other areas of cooperation, ASEAN and Pakistan have undertaken

cooperation in trade, industry and investment, science and technology, drugs and

narcotics, environment, tourism, and human resources development.

11. On human resources development, Pakistan offers fully-funded scholarships in

information technology, banking, engineering and medicine for students from ASEAN

Member States annually. Pakistan has also offered scholarships in an English

Language Training Programme for CLMV countries.

12. A number of cooperation projects have been carried out with funding support

from the ASEAN-Pakistan Cooperation Fund including the First Meeting of ASEANPakistan

Business Council and ASEAN-Pakistan Trade Facilitation Workshop, both

held back-to-back on 21-22 February 2000 in Karachi, the Workshop on Industrial and

Composite Design Applications on 29-31 October 2002 in Islamabad, the Multimedia

Training and Resources Development on 20 November-2 December 2006 in

Islamabad, the ASEAN-Pakistan Workshop on Geo-informatics on 10-12 September

2007 in Islamabad, the 1st ASEAN-Pakistan Conference on Materials Science

(APCOMS) on 15-16 December 2008 in Islamabad, the Pakistan-ASEAN Workshop

on Halal Food Production Technology and Certification System on 11-12 March 2009

in Karachi; the ASEAN-Pakistan Free Trade Agreement (FTA) Joint Feasibility Study

which was finalised in 2009, the ASEAN-Pakistan Photo Exhibition on 8-16 March

2011, the 2nd APCOMS on 26-28 April 2011 and the 3rd APCOMS on 25-27

November 2014.

Answer the key questions based on the dialogue/ agreement above:

2. What is all about this dialogue/ agreement? (Come up with a summary of this dialogue/ agreement.
4. What is the purpose of this dialogue? Why is it important for ASEAN?
6. What are the major contributions of this dialogue/ agreement to ASEAN?
8. How can this dialogue/ agreement benefit both parties?
10. Discuss your opinion or comment on each of the dialogue/ agreement.