Overview

The Islamic Republic of Pakistan is situated between Central Asia and the Persian Gulf, at the strategically important mouth of the Strait of Hormuz. Pakistan is the world’s fifth most populous country, with a population of more than 240 million people, which projects an active voice in the South Asia region and within the Islamic world. Pakistan was formed following the partition of India in August 1947. Pakistan shares significant borders with China, India, Afghanistan and Iran.  Pakistan counts China and Iran as key regional partners. Pakistan continues to host a  large Afghan refugee community. The territorial dispute over Kashmir continues to challenge its relationship with India.

Bilateral relationship

Australia enjoys long-standing and growing ties with Pakistan, underpinned by deepening people-to-people links. Diplomatic relations were established on partition in 1947 and Australia has maintained a resident mission in the country since 1948.

The Australian Government engages with Pakistan in the areas of security cooperation (including, counter-terrorism and countering violent extremism, defence, and law enforcement training), human rights, and development, including through official level dialogue.

People-to-people links

Australia and Pakistan enjoy a common heritage and shared interests. Our strong people-to-people links centre on an active and successful Pakistani community in Australia, of more than 100,000 people, that continues to enrich Australia through academia, cultural exchange, commerce and sport.

Australia hosts a sizeable Pakistani international student cohort. There were more than 21,000 international students from Pakistan in Australia from January to May 2024. This includes those on long-term scholarships under the Australia Awards program (29 in 2024) which aims to support Pakistan to achieve sustainable development with particular focus on the empowerment of women and girls, water security, agriculture, infrastructure and inclusive economic development.

Both countries are members of the Commonwealth, are federations with bicameral legislatures, and share a common law tradition – as well as a great love of cricket.

Development cooperation

While Australia’s bilateral development cooperation program with Pakistan ceased in 2019-20, Australia continues to support people in Pakistan through regional and global programs. Australian support focuses on gender equality, agriculture and water security and responding to natural disasters and humanitarian crises. Australia provided over $10 million in response to devastating flooding in 2022 and continues to support Afghan refugees and host communities in Pakistan.

Economic and trade relations

Australia-Pakistan two-way trade in goods and services approached A$3.3 billion in 2023. Australia's major goods exports to Pakistan include pulses and oilseed, coal and fertilizer. Major imports from Pakistan are textiles and clothing. The value of education services exports to Pakistan in 2023 was $1.5 billion.

The Australia and Pakistan Joint Trade Committee (JTC) is the primary forum for discussing bilateral trade and investment and last met in Islamabad in March 2023.

Both countries are exploring avenues to expand trade and investment, particularly in education and agribusiness. Austrade has a locally engaged Business Development Manager in Islamabad. Country management for Pakistan is the responsibility of Austrade's Dubai-based Regional Senior Trade and Investment Commissioner.

There are reasonable prospects for growth in trade and investment, particularly in agribusiness (dairy, livestock, and crop production); and processed foods.

Promising sectors for future Australian trade and investment include water management and sustainable mining services and technologies.

Security cooperation

The Pakistan-Australia Joint Working Group on Border Management and Transnational Crime fosters cooperation to combat transnational crime, such as terrorism and terrorist financing, and illegal migration. Australia engages with Pakistan on regional security issues and on arms control and non-proliferation.

The Australian Federal Police has a 40 year relationship with Pakistan law enforcement and cooperation between our agencies continues to disrupt transnational crime. Through the provision of training programs and specialist equipment, Australia builds Pakistan’s capacity to counter serious and organised crime.

The unique and long-standing relationship between the Australian Defence Force and Quetta Command and Staff College, dating back to 1907, underpins the Australia-Pakistan defence relationship. Pakistan has been a partner on joint maritime security in the Western Indian Ocean, to combat piracy and smuggling through the Combined Task Forces. In addition to a student at Quetta, the Australian Defence Force sends a student to the National Defence University in Islamabad, and Defence personnel regularly attend specialised courses in Pakistan.

Many of the Pakistan military's senior officers have visited Australia for talks, and some for training earlier in their careers. Australia and Pakistan hold regular Chief-to-Chief dialogues. Since 2010, there have been regular 1.5 track dialogues that bring together senior leaders from respective militaries, government agencies and think tanks to discuss issues of mutual interest.

Political overview

National government

Shehbaz Sharif was sworn in on 4 March 2024 as Pakistan’s 24th Prime Minister. The Prime Minister heads the Cabinet.

Asif Ali Zardari was elected President on 9 March 2024 by the electoral college, which comprises the Senate, and National and Provincial Assemblies. The Presidency is primarily a ceremonial position and chairs the National Security Council, which comprises military chiefs and cabinet members.

Pakistan’s 2024 general elections were held on 8 February to vote on 265 seats in the National Assembly and for the legislatures of Pakistan’s four provinces of Punjab, Sindh, Balochistan and Khyber Pakhtunkhwa. More than 128 million Pakistanis registered to vote and voter turnout was 47.6 per cent. Results showed independents secured 101 seats with the majority (92) being Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaaf (PTI) aligned independents. The Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz (PML-N) party won 75 seats, the Pakistan People’s Party (PPP) won 54 seats, the Muttahida Qomi Movement Pakistan won 17 seats, and the rest were divided among 10 other parties. None of the parties had enough seats for a majority. Post-election, the PML-N and PPP and other smaller parties formed a coalition government.

National legislature

Pakistan has a federal system of government with a bicameral legislature: the National Assembly and the Senate.

The National Assembly (the lower house) has 342 seats in total. The majority of lower house seats are elected on a first-past-the-post basis, with 60 seats reserved for women and 10 for non-Muslim minorities. The reserved seats are allocated on the basis of proportional representation to parties that win more than 5 per cent of the directly elected seats.

The Senate (the upper house) consists of 96 senators, with 23 elected by each of the four provincial assemblies, four are Islamabad Capital Territory representatives from the lower house, and four seats are allocated to non-Muslim minorities under the 18th Constitutional Amendment (passed in February 2010).

Provincial and other sub-national governments

Pakistan includes four provinces – Sindh (capital, Karachi), Punjab (capital, Lahore), Khyber Pakhtunkhwa (formerly the North-West Frontier Province and now including the former Federally Administered Tribal Areas) (capital, Peshawar) and Balochistan (capital, Quetta). Islamabad has its own status as a 'Federal Capital Territory'.

All four provinces have their own elected provincial assemblies and governments. A Chief Minister heads each provincial government. Each province also has a Governor, who is appointed by the President of Pakistan.

The Kashmir region is disputed with India. Pakistan-administered Kashmir comprises Azad Jammu and Kashmir (AJK) and Gilgit-Baltistan.

Economic overview

Pakistan has the second-largest economy in South Asia after India. It is a lower middle-income economy with GDP generated mostly by the services sector (more than 50 per cent share), along with the agriculture (around 24 per cent) and industry (nearly 20 per cent) sectors.

Pakistan faced strong economic headwinds in 2022-23. Pakistan’s GDP growth rates fell from 5.8 per cent and 6.1 per cent in 2021 and 2022 to around 0.3 per cent in 2023. The Asian Development Bank’s 2024 Asian Development Outlook noted that Pakistan’s economic outlook remains uncertain with political instability posing a risk to macroeconomic stabilisation and reform efforts, and projects Pakistan’s economy to grow by a modest 1.9 per cent in 2024.

Pakistan’s last International Monetary Fund (IMF) economic restructure program lapsed without completion in June 2023. The IMF and Pakistan negotiated a USD 3 billion Stand-By Arrangement (SBA) that expired in April 2024.   In October 2024, the IMF Executive Board approved a 37-month Extended Fund Facility of around USD 7 billion, with immediate disbursement of about USD 1 billion to, “support the authorities’ efforts to cement macroeconomic stability and create conditions for a stronger, more inclusive, and resilient growth” by Pakistan taking various steps to reform economic policy. The Pakistan government also needs to secure external credit from bilateral lenders. 

Trade

Pakistan joined the World Trade Organization (WTO) in 1995 and is an active participant in the rules-based multilateral trading system. Pakistan’s 2022 WTO Trade Policy Review noted that Pakistan’s openness to international trade and international economic integration has been on a downward trend since 2007-08. Pakistan has been pursuing wide-ranging trade-related and investment policies based on its Vision 2025 and maintains a relatively liberal investment regime. Risks to Pakistan’s economic outlook include delays or failures to implement critical structural reforms that could act as a drag on productivity, investment, and private sector development.

Pakistan’s top trading partners are China, the European Union, the United States, and the United Arab Emirates. Europe and the Americas are increasingly important export markets and Asia and the Middle East are growing as Pakistan’s main sources of imports. Pakistan’s major exports include textiles, clothing and footwear, leather products, surgical goods, pharmaceutical products, light engineering and auto parts. Its major imports include petroleum, agricultural and other chemicals, food items, machinery, metals, textiles and transport vehicles.

Remittances from overseas workers are an important source of capital inflows to the Pakistan economy. The State Bank of Pakistan reported that remittances sent by overseas Pakistani workers reached USD 2.9 billion in August 2024. Those remittances mainly came from Saudi Arabia, the United Arab Emirates, the United Kingdom, and the United States.

Human rights

Pakistan underwent its most recent United Nations Human Rights Council Universal Periodic Review on 30 January 2023.

The Australian Government has continued to express its concerns with the human rights situation in Pakistan, including the use of capital punishment, the impact of Pakistan’s blasphemy laws, the rights of women and girls, the treatment of ethnic, religious and sexual minorities, and freedom of expression.

Australia has raised its universal opposition to the death penalty, continues to promote inter-faith harmony and urged the Pakistan Government to address human rights concerns through both bilateral and multilateral representations.