MINSK: Ambassador of Pakistan to Belarus called on Mr. Yuri Shuleiko, Chairman of Brest Regional Executive Committee (Governor). Mr. Nasir Hamid, Minister (Trade & Investment) based in Moscow and Abdullah Amin, Deputy Head of Mission at Minsk Embassy were also in attendance. From Belarusian side, Chairman of Economic Committee Mikhail Samolazov, Chief Executive Officer of Brest Free Economic Zone Fiodar Kalanchuk and other senior officials also attended the interaction.
Appreciating the deep rooted bilateral ties between the two counties, the Ambassador highlighted Pakistan’s keen interest in further deepening the trade and investment ties. Briefing the Belarusian dignitary on recent steps undertaken for promotion of multifaceted relations, the Ambassador expressed his full satisfaction over the outcome of his three days tour of the Brest region during which he met over twenty leading businesspersons representing a diverse sectors of economic activities ranging from fish importers, dairy producers, textile importers and garments manufacturer/importers.
Expressing his satisfaction over the growing ties between the two countries, Chairman Shuleiko welcomed the Ambassador to Brest Region and showed his government’s readiness to assist the businesspersons from Pakistan in forging closer trade & investment ties particularly in Agriculture and Textile sectors, where Brest region has lot of scope. He also invited Pakistani investors to take advantage of the investment opportunities in the Brest Free Economic Zone.
The two sides agreed to pursue to common objective of finding ways and means to strengthen commercial ties between Pakistan and Belarus.
Pakistan’s envoy to Belarus calls on Chairman BREC
Palestine solidarity day to be marked: Ashrafi
LAHORE: Prime Minister’s Special Representative for Religious Harmony Maulana Tahir Mehmood Ashrafi has said the issues of Kashmir and Palestine have become issues of the whole humanity.
Addressing a press conference here on Thursday, he said the entire nation was standing with brothers of Palestine and Solidarity Day with Palestinians would be observed on Friday in the country, adding that peaceful protest rallies and gatherings would be organized to express solidarity with the Palestinian Muslims.
He said Foreign Minister Shah Mehmood Qureshi would present the stance of the country in the United Nations (UN). He added that ceasefire was the first step while the second step was establishment of free and independent state of Palestine in the region.
Pakistan again sees sharp rise in Covid-19 cases
ISLAMABAD, MAY 20 (DNA) – A day after the government decided to open educational institutions, restaurants and tourist destinations, Pakistan recorded a spike in daily Covid-19 cases.
According to the National Command and Operation Centre (NCOC) data, as many as 4,207 new Covid-19 cases of the coronavirus emerged across the country over the last 24 hours when 51,130 samples were tested.
The positivity ratio of covid-19 infections climbed to 8.22 per cent, the NCOC said. 131 people succumbed to the virus during the same period, pushing the death toll to 19,987. The number of active cases has climbed to 66,282. 4,517 of them are said to be in critical care.
A total of 4,171 people recuperated from the disease during the past 24 hours, taking the total number of people recovering to 804,122. On Wednesday, the National Command and Operations Centre (NCOC) decided to reopen educational institutions in districts where the Covid-19 positivity ratio is less than 5 per cent. It decided that outdoor dining will be allowed till 11:59 pm and takeaways will be allowed 24/7. Tourism will be allowed to operate under stringent COVID-19 protocols.
PM, Chinese Premier praise Pak-China coop
ISLAMABAD: Prime Minister Imran Khan and Chinese Premier Li Keqiang have reaffirmed their resolve to further solidify bilateral relations between Pakistan and China.
In their telephonic conversation on the eve of 70th anniversary of establishment of Pak-China diplomatic ties, the two leaders discussed bilateral relations and COVID-19 vaccine cooperation.
Prime Minister Imran Khan emphasized that Pakistan and China have transformed their relationship into an all-weather strategic cooperative partnership through their collective and tireless efforts over the years. He said China Pakistan Economic Corridor (CPEC) project is a flagship project of the Belt and Road initiative and has generated economic activity, employment and will further enhance bilateral and regional trade.
Imran Khan highlighted Pakistan-China cooperation in fighting COVID-19 and deeply appreciated China’s continued support to Pakistan in supply of vaccine. He thanked China for providing assistance to National Institute of Health for establishing vaccine manufacturing facility in Pakistan saying this will further solidify Pakistan’s efforts to combat COVID-19
The Prime Minister stressed the need to continue with the momentum of high level exchanges to further diversify and deepen strategic cooperation between the two countries.
Imran Khan congratulated the Chinese Premier on the 70th anniversary of the establishment of diplomatic relations between Pakistan and China. The Prime Minister also felicitated the Chinese leadership for successful landing of Chinese spacecraft on Mars saying this showed rising technological prowess of China.
Time to tell Israel it’s enough: FM
“There are times in history when decisions of nations are remembered by posterity. This is one such moment,” Qureshi said in his UNGA address
NEW YORK: Minister for Foreign Affairs Shah Mahmood Qureshi addressed the 67th plenary meeting of the United Nations General Assembly in New York to highlight Israeli atrocities against Palestinians on Thursday.
“It is time to say enough. The voice of the Palestinian people cannot and will not be silenced,” he said.
“There are times in history when decisions of nations are remebered by posterity. This is one such moment,” Qureshi said, as he began his address.
“What we do today or cannot do will be recorded in history. Driven by arrogance and emboldened by impunity, Israel has mounted a relentless onslaught on the occupied and beleaguered people of Palestine,” he said.
He said that one week of Israeli attacks have led to more than 250 Palestinians being killed and thousands injured — one third of which are women and children.
“Death echoes in every home in Gaza,” Qureshi said, to lay stress on the gravity of the situation. He also recalled one such tragedy, in which all ten members of the Abu Hattab family had perished in Israeli strikes.
“Hundreds of such tragedies are being enacted every hour in Gaza and other parts of the Palestinian territories. So far over 50,000 Palestinians have fled their homes in Gaza,” he said, adding that these people have very poor and limited access to water, food, hygiene and health services.
The foreign minister said hospitals and sanitation services rely on electricity but fuel for power plants “has almost run out”.
“Gaza has plunged in darkness […] the only light is that of Israeli explosions,” he said.
Qureshi said such is the existence of Palestine, where “in full view of the world Israeli airstrikes bring down entire buildings to kill and terrorise innocent Palestinians and even silence the media”.
The foreign minister said the representatives of the Islamic world are there to speak with and for Palestine.
He said it is “appalling” that the United Nations Security Council has been unable to do what it is tasked with — to maintain international peace and security. He said it has even failed to demand a cessation of hostilities, and warned that those preventing it from doing so “bear a heavy responsibility”.
He said the United Nations General Assembly, must then, assume its own responsibility. “We must not fail the Palestinian people at this critical juncture.”
Azerbaijan keen to expand ties with Pakistan: Alizade
Ambassador Alizade meets Omar Ayub; says Azerbaijan can export petroleum products to Pakistan
ISLAMABAD: Ambassador of the Republic of Azerbaijan to Pakistan Ali Alizada called on the Federal Minister for Economic Affairs Omar Ayub Khan in his office. The Azerbaijani Ambassador congratulated him on assumption of the new portfolio of Ministry of Economic Affairs. During the meeting, the two sides discussed the bilateral economic cooperation.
Ali Alizada, Azerbaijani Ambassador emphasized to enhance business to business contacts between the both countries to boost trade and investment opportunities.
He highlighted that Pakistani exporters can benefit from exports of goods, especially textile and rice to Azerbaijani market. He also showed the interest of Azerbaijani side to export oil products to Pakistan on deferred payment basis and construction of LNG terminal.
The Minister for Economic Affairs, Omar Ayub Khan highlighted that both the countries have huge potential in the areas of trade, investment and tourism.
He expressed that Pakistan has vast opportunities for investment in petrochemical industries, light engineering, agriculture & food processing. Both the sides also highlighted the importance of Central Asia Regional Economic Cooperation (CAREC) and agreed to further enhance the mutual cooperation on bilateral basis as well as CAREC platform which will ultimately benefit the entire region to unleash their economic potential.
Shocked by Israeli bombardment: UN Chief
NEW YORK: Continued crossfire between Israeli forces and militant groups including Hamas is “unacceptable,” Secretary-General Antonio Guterres told the UN General Assembly Thursday, saying “the fighting must stop immediately.”
“I am deeply shocked by the continued air and artillery bombardment by the Israeli Defense Forces in Gaza,” Guterres said of the salvos that he said have killed “at least 208 Palestinians, including 60 children.”
The Gaza health ministry has put the toll slightly higher, at 230 Palestinians killed, 65 of them children.
Guterres continued that “indiscriminate firing of rockets by Hamas and other militant groups towards population centers in Israel, resulting in at least 12 fatalities including two children, and hundreds of injuries, is also unacceptable.”
The toll given by Guterres differs from that given by Israeli police, which says Hamas rockets have claimed 12 lives including one child.
“If there is a hell on earth, it is the lives of children in Gaza,” Guterres said.
The General Assembly meeting was requested by Niger and Algeria, respectively the current chairs of the Organization of Islamic Cooperation and the Arab Group at the United Nations.
“It is imperative that we achieve de-escalation, to prevent an uncontainable cross border security and humanitarian crisis,” he said, calling for the “resumption of negotiations” pursuing “a two-state solution on the basis of the 1967 lines.”
Prime Minister performs groundbreaking of 103 km-long Naukundi-Mashkhel road
Prime Minister Imran Khan today (Thursday) performed the groundbreaking of 103 kilometer-long Naukundi-Mashkhel road to enhance connectivity in Balochistan.
Addressing the virtual groundbreaking of the project in Islamabad this evening, he said the project will be a great facility to the scattered population of Balochistan. He said this project is of great importance for the development and future of Balochistan and to strengthen the federation of Pakistan. He said we can massively benefit from the natural resources by connecting Balochistan with other parts of the country.
The Prime Minister said massive road infrastructure will be built in Balochistan during five-year tenure of his government.
Talking about his vision of governance, Imran Khan said he wants rule of law and to help the downtrodden. He said no society can progress without upholding rule of law. He said all mafias are trying to blackmail the government to get immunity or NRO but he is determined to bring them all under the law.
Speaking on the occasion, Minister for Communication Murad Saeed said completion of this road would help promoting economic activities in the area.
The Minister said following Prime Minister Imran Khan’s vision of austerity, National Highway Authority would soon become a self-sustainable institution. He said during PTI’s tenure, the authority’s revenue increased by 105 percent.
He said 20 billion rupees were accumulated in various recoveries, one billion rupees through austerity drive while land worth 460 billion rupees was also recovered.
The Minister said road infrastructure projects are being launched in the less developed areas of the country to bring them at par with other developed areas. He said network of roads is being laid down across the country through public and private partnership and under a new vision.
He said areas near the GT road would be connected to motorway network through Sialkot-Kharian and Kharian-Rawalpindi motorways, to be launched this year.
Murad Saeed said during our tenure, we constructed around 1753km of roads that created more than hundred thousand jobs in the country while planning for other 6100km of roads has also been completed.
It is pertinent to mention that Naukundi-Mashkhel road project will be completed in two years and help generate direct and indirect job opportunities for about four thousand people.
Areas adjacent to Naukundi-Maskhel section in Balochistan will greatly benefit from the construction of this road as it will provide them easy access to the Iranian border in less time. This will promote local trade especially that of dates which will mark a new beginning in the socio-economic development of these areas.
US, Russia stress to increase mutual cooperation despite serious differences
WASHINGTON: The United States and Russia have stressed to increase mutual cooperation despite serious differences.
Talking to Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov in Reykjavik on the sidelines of an Arctic Council meeting, US Secretary of State Antony Blinken said the world would be safer if the two countries’ leaders work together.
On his part, Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov said the talks are constructive and the two diplomats would prepare proposals for a possible meeting between US President Joe Biden and Russian President Vladimir Putin.
Pakistan urges UNSC to hold Israel accountable for war crimes
ISLAMABAD: Foreign Office Spokesperson Zahid Hafeez Chaudhry has urged UN Security Council to initiate steps to hold Israel accountable for its war crimes and crimes against humanity and to implement relevant UN resolutions to resolve the Palestine issue.
Responding to various questions during his weekly news briefing in Islamabad on Thursday, he said Kashmir and Palestine issues are the longest disputes on the UN Security Council’s agenda. He said Pakistan continues to condemn Israel’s deliberate and systematic assault against the people of Palestine, its violation of sanctity of the holy places, particularly, the Al-Aqsa mosque. He also criticized Israel’s continued policy of expansion of illegal settlements in the occupied Palestinian territory, enforced evictions of Palestinians and demolishing of their houses as well as targeting of journalists and international media outlets.
The Spokesperson said Pakistan deplored Israel’s indiscriminate and disproportionate force, including aerial bombing, as well as destruction of civilian infrastructure.
Regarding Pakistan’s Palestine Policy, he said we have always been at the forefront of the countries supporting the just cause of the Palestinian people. He said Pakistan has sponsored, co-sponsored or supported every resolution on Palestine at all international fora, including the United Nations and the OIC. He said Pakistan co-sponsored the UN General Assembly Resolution, upgrading Palestine to a non-member observer state of the UN in 2012.
Responding to another question, Zahid Hafeez Chaudhry said Pakistan is not shied away of talks with India, but it should be meaningful and result oriented to resolve the outstanding issues of which Kashmir is the core dispute.
