DNA

KARACHI, JUN 26 – Course Commissioning Parade of 115th Midshipmen and 23rd SSC was held at Pakistan Naval Academy (PNA), PNS RAHBAR, Manora Island, Karachi.

General Nadeem Raza, Chairman Joint Chiefs of Staff Committee was the Chief Guest at the occasion. Admiral Muhammad Amjad Khan Niazi, Chief of Naval Staff was also present at the parade.

The commissioning contingent also included midshipmen from Royal Saudi Naval Force and Bahrain Defence Forces.

Chairman JCSC congratulated the commissioning term for successful completion of the training and becoming guardians of Pakistan’s maritime frontiers.

CJCSC said that Pakistan is committed to peace and today, the entire nation stands united against terrorism and extremism. Chairman JCSC also said that the world must recognise Pakistan’s consistent peace overtures and take notice of the human rights violations in Indian Illegally Occupied Jammu and Kashmir.

CJCSC also gave awards to the distinction holders. Quaid-e-Azam Gold Medal was awarded to Lt Miraj Khalid Khan for his overall best performance. Midshipman Hamza Malik was awarded Sword of Honour, Officer Cadet Huzaifa Javed Niazi won CJCSC Gold Medal, Midshipman Aziq Baig clinched the Academy’s Dirk whereas Commandant Gold Medal was awarded to Officer Cadet Humera Maryam. Midshipman Nayef Ebrahim Mohamed Ebrahim Alsayyah from Bahrain Defence Forces won Chief of Naval Staff Gold Medal.

Earlier, upon arrival, CJCSC was received by Commodore Sohail Ahmad Azmie, Commandant Pakistan Naval Academy.

ISLAMABAD, JUN 26 (DNA) – Allama Iqbal Open University (AIOU) has appointed Raja Umar Younis as the new Registrar of the university.

Raja Umer Younis assumed the charge of the office of Registrar of Allama Iqbal Open University after Executive Council, the supreme statutory body of the university, formally endorsed decision of the Selection Board in which Raja Umer Younis along with some other officers and academicians were appointed.

Representatives of Academic Staff Association (ASA), Officers’ Welfare Association (OWA) and Employees Welfare Association (EWA) of the university congratulated Raja Umer on assuming the charge of his new office and assured him of their full cooperation.

They expressed the hope that Raja Umar would strive hard to ensure progress of AIOU as well as welfare of its employees.

The Deans of all four academic faculties of the university as well as principal officers have also felicitated Raja Umer on becoming registrar of AIOU and  expressed their confidence on the recruitment policies of Prof Dr Zia UL-Qayyum, Vice Chancellor, AIOU to uphold principles of merit and transparency.

Raja Umer, also assured that Registrar Office will extend maximum cooperation for the mutual benefits of AIOU and its employees.

He, further, added that VC, AIOU’s vision of merit and transparency will be implemented in true letter and spirit without subjecting any employee to any discriminatory policy.=DNA

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Devcom-Pakistan webinar highlights that the five big powers of the region – China, Russia, Turkey, Iran and Pakistan may come to a formal collaboration against the US hegemonic interventions in the region. The US shall learn from its defeat in Afghanistan and other wars and refrain from such adventures in future.   

Islamabad – Speaking at a webinar on Saturday, the experts said the US is making its utmost efforts to ignite a new cold war in the region and this time against China. The Build Back Better World (B3W) is apparently a copycat project of the Belt and Road Initiative (BRI) that has engaged 140 countries by now.  

They said the B3W partnership of G-7 countries would take longtime to mature any outline of actual interventions. The big question is where the huge money would come from whereas the G-7 nations and the private sector will not compromise their trade and economic ties with China. The other big issue with the US is credibility. Now even the long-time allies don’t trust the US anymore blindly. Over the decades, the world has seen the US as a war monger looking for an enemy all the time. In the circumstances, the B3W seems to be merely a political propaganda against China.

Development Communications Network (Devcom-Pakistan) and DTN organized the webinar on Saturday on the subject, “Biden’s G-7 Build Back Better World (B3W) and emerging situation in the region”. The panelists included chairman Senate Standing Committee on Defence Senator Mushahid Hussain Sayed, former chief ISI and geopolitical analyst Lt. General Retd Muhammad Asad Durani, political activist and geopolitical commentator Reham Khan (London), geopolitical researcher Soumya Awasthi (Delhi) and chairman Centre for Diplomatic and Political Affairs Tolga Sakman (Istanbul).

Geopolitical commentator and Devcom-Pakistan Executive Director Munir Ahmed hosted and moderated the webinar. While introducing the subject, Munir Ahmed said, “B3W is an apparent tool to challenge the deep-rooted BRI for obvious reasons. Through B3W, the G7 and other like-minded partners will coordinate in mobilizing private-sector capital in four areas of focus—climate, health and health security, digital technology, and gender equity and equality—with catalytic investments from the respective development finance institutions. As described, B3W will be global in scope, from Latin America and the Caribbean to Africa to the Indo-Pacific. Different G7 partners will have different geographic orientations, but the sum of the initiative will cover low- and middle-income countries across the world.”

Senator Mushahid Hussain Sayed the US has lost its credibility over the years. No one is willing to trust whatever plans the US offer in partnership with other developed countries. At the moment, the US is withdrawing from Afghanistan as a defeated country, and without any settled accord among stakeholders. The rise of the Taliban has increased the security concerns for the region. In this situation, no country is willing to trust G7 and the US. Pakistan has already refused the US for air-bases. The new Iranian President Ebrahim Raisi has already strongly condemned the US approach towards Iran.

He said the B3W will not be able to take off as a challenge to the BRI. Only India is expected to join it being the US ally against China despite its many economic interests associated with neighbouring China.

The Indian expert Soumya Awasthi said the B3W is expected to have more transparent and accountable mechanisms being a multipartite initiative to challenge BRI. Nothing is clear as to how it would compete with BRI or curtail China’s economic growth while the big question is where the money comes from? And why would the private sector invest in the social sector where the returns of the investment are not ensured. On the other hand, the G-7 countries did not work out anything post-Covid.

Lt General Retd Asad Durrani said the US did not learn from its mistakes in the previous wars and armed conflicts. Another cold war in the region will be another big mistake while all the big countries in the region are against the US hegemonic interventions in the region, and somehow are part of the BRI and CPEC. As many as five countries Iran, Turkey, Pakistan, China and Russia are on the same page and against the US except India. They all are opposing the US and at any time they may come together to collaborate with each other for the US aggressive designs.

The Turkish expert Tolga Sakman said the B3W as a G7 partnership is not attractive to Turkey and it has many geopolitical flaws. Turkey will not be against China in any case, rather will support by all means for regional connectivity and economic prosperity.

Reham Khan said the G7 countries have their own strategic and economic interests with China. Even if they were able to launch B3W most of the stakeholders and partners within the G7 and the US will not go against China. Biden’s B3W is not being supported by its Congress and what to expect from others.          

DNA

KARACHI, JUN 26 – As the country’s trade deficit has increased by almost 30% to $28 billion during 11 months (July-May) 2020-21, the FPCCI’s Businessmen Panel has asked the authorities to focus on further accelerating exports, besides keeping some check on unbridled imports of luxury items.

The Federation of Pakistan Chambers of Commerce and Industry’s Businessmen Panel Chairman Mian Anjum Nisar warned that the pace of growth in imports is projected to increase further in the coming months following the abolishment of regulatory duty on imports of raw materials and semi-finished products. He observed that the economic managers will have to chalk-out a long term plan for import substitution and increasing exports so that Pakistan could become self reliant. He also emphasized the need for adoption of international best practices for priority sectors and consultations with international experts to achieve success. He stressed upon the need to enhance inter-ministerial coordination and public-private partnership for increasing exports.

He said the low exports volume and rising trade deficit were chronicle issues which should be resolved permanently. He said exportable items should be produced in accordance with the international demand to fully exploit the benefit of GSP-Plus status. He said that several industries and sectors were neglected in past. He said decisions should be made in national interest, keeping aside the personal agenda. 

Mian Anjum Nisar stated that Pakistan’s trade deficit keeps on widening despite a much-trumpeted increase in exports, which were, in fact, not sufficient to match the huge surge in imports.

He said that the economic managers were boasting of their performance on the plea of current account balance, and observed that with a view to achieve consistency in current account surplus for a long period without compromising industrial growth the government will have to focus on increasing the exports and put the business and trade issues on priority, otherwise, the economic problems and balance of payment could further disturb with the growing trade deficit, he warned. The chairman of the BMP, the ruling group of the FPCCI, said that the situation is in control due to sustained increase in remittances.  

The FPCCI former president said the government has to formulate long-term and consistent policies for the revival of industry and considerable improvement in exports, as contrary to regional countries, Pakistan’s exports have remained stagnant during the past 40 years, and unless attention was paid to all factors that hamper industrial and exports growth, the country might not be able to achieve desired results.

Mian Anjum Nisar said the industrial production after suffering months of damage inflicted by the corona pandemic is now clearly reflecting a revival in economic activities in the country.

The long-term strategy needs structural reforms of the entire export sector, including high tech and innovative products, value-added exports commodities and market diversification towards unexplored markets like South America and Africa. 

Some of the impediments to industrial growth include cost of production, poor governance, obsolete technology, low productivity, lack of competitiveness, supply constraints, and energy issues.

He said that the current export portfolio is marred by a lack of diversification, as few products are exported by some exporters to limited markets. So, a major enhancement in exports requires huge and wide structural reforms. 

According to statistics, exports in May have declined by 25% as compared to April 2021 but on cumulative basis exports rose by $2.76 billion during the first 11 months of this financial year. However, country’s imports have witnessed growth of 22% to almost $ 50 billion during July-May 202-21. This implies that trade deficit of eleven months increased by 30% or $ 27.27, showing a difference of $ 6 billion.

In May 2021, imports grew by 77.8% to $ 5 billion against $ 2.86 billion. Trade deficit in May recorded a growth of 134% to $ 3.43 billion in May 2021 as compared to $ 1.96 billion in May 2020.