Pakistan

Note: This column mainly includes countries along the Belt and Road and countries that have signed cooperation agreements with China on Belt and Road Initiative.

Pakistan is strategically located at theconfluence of South Asia, Middle East and Central Asia. On its north-east isIndia, with Afghanistan on the west, Iran on the south-west and China in thenortheast, and a coastline along Arabian Sea. It is separated from Tajikistanby Afghanistan’s narrow Wakhan Corridor in the north and also shares a maritimeborder with Oman. Pakistan is endowed with natural and historical wonders.

Historically, Pakistan traces its roots tothe Great Indus Valley Civilization that developed thousands of years ago alongthe banks of the River Indus, on the crossroads of the ancient trading routesstretched between Central Asia, China, Middle East and East Asia. Almost half adozen civilizations have flourished here, leaving their signature on theculture, art, architecture and cuisine.

Pakistan covers an area of 796,095km2(307,374 sq mi). Pakistan with a population exceeding 190 million, is thesixth largest country in the world, 36 percent of which is youth. The climatevaries from tropical to temperate, having four distinct seasons throughout theyear.

The country comprises four provinces:Punjab, Sindh, Balochistan, and Khyber Pakhtunkhwa. The capital of Pakistan isIslamabad, while Karachi is its largest city.

The economy of Pakistan has progressed fromagrarian economy in 1950s to a semi-industrialized economy of today. It is the27th largest economy in the world in terms of Purchasing Power Parity (PPP).The country’s exports include cotton and yarn products, rice, textiles, leatherand sports goods, and surgical equipment. Pakistan imports heavy machinery,transport vehicles, raw material and petroleum, among other things. Majortrading partners of Pakistan are China, European Union, United Arab Emirates,United States and Saudi Arabia.

Pakistan is a multi-ethnic andmulticultural society. It has a federal parliamentary political system.Pakistan is a democracy with elections held every five years. The nationallanguage of Pakistan is Urdu. The four major provincial languages are :Punjabi, Pashto, Sindhi and Balochi. In addition several regional languages anddialects are spoken in Pakistan. The official currency is Rupee.

Official Name: Islamic Republic ofPakistan

Independence Day: August 14th (1947)

National Day: 23rd March

Area: 796,095 km2

Population: 190 million (estimated)

Religion: 95 percent Muslims, 5 percentothers including

Christians, Hindus etc.

National Language: Urdu

Head of State: Mamnoon Hussain, President

Head of Government: Muhammad Nawaz Sharif,Prime Minister

Capital: Islamabad

Source: www.pakbj.org