A.M.Bhatti
ISLAMABAD: Ambassador of Palestine Ahmed Ameen has expressed deep sense of sorrow and grief over sad demise Saeb Erekat.
In a message the ambassador said, ‘I hereby share with deep sorrow the passing away of H. E. Mr. Saeb Muhammad Salih Erekat, Secretary General of the Palestine Liberation Organization and head of the Palestine Liberation Organization – Negotiations Affairs Department, May Allah Bless his soul an eternal Peace in Jannah, Aameen’.
ISLAMABAD, NOV 10 (DNA) – Over the special direction of Federal Minister for Federal Education and Professional Education, Inter Board Committee of Chairmen (IBCC), has started various initiatives to facilitate the students and their parents for attestion and equivalence of documents. In this regard, Dr Ghulam Ali Mallah,
Secretary IBCC signed the agreement with TCS Express & Logistic to avail 1Link service to extend the opportunity of submission of Equivalence & Attestation fee at any of the TCS express Centers across Pakistan instead of visiting bank in order to facilitate the public under one roof.
With this MoU, the applicants can deposit their equivalence and attestation fee at any of the TCS express centers in Pakistan at more than 850 outlets in over 380 cities/towns in the country.
Mr Shafqat Mahmood, Federal Minister for Education and Professional Trainings directed Secretary IBCC to take measures to facilitate the students in attestation process through building trust of the students on courier service and organisation as their testimonial may remain safe and secure. He also directed that the applicants may also be updated about the status of their applications from submission of the documents till delivery.
The Secretary IBCC, along with TCS Service, devised a mechanism to update applications status from submission till delivery.=DNA
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ISLAMABAD, NOV 10 (DNA) – Lt Col Khalid Taimur Akram (Retd), Executive Director, Center for Global & Strategic Studies (CGSS), Islamabad visited the Embassy of The Republic of Uzbekistan, Islamabad, and met with Lt Col Saad Ullah, Charge De Affairs/Defence Attaché and other diplomatic staff of Embassy of Uzbekistan, Islamabad.
During the meeting it was decided that CGSS will work closely with the Women Association of Uzbekistan in various areas including entrepreneurship, CGSS will also organize an event on entrepreneurship with the Women Association of Uzbekistan from 19th to 21st November.
It was also discussed that CGSS will work with institutions in the Republic of Uzbekistan for joint research activities to highlight the similar historical aspects of both countries.
Modalities involved in the establishment of Zahir Ud Babur chair in Punjab University were also brought under discussion.
Lt Col Saad Ullah appreciated CGSS for its active role in strengthening bilateral ties between Pakistan and the Republic of Uzbekistan.
The meeting was also attended by:
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ISLAMABAD, NOV 10 (DNA) – Pakistan-China Institute (PCI) and Center for Chinese Legal Studies, Lahore University for Medical Sciences (LUMS) co-hosted a virtual conference on “Poverty Alleviation, Covid-19, and CPEC” as part of PCI’s ‘Friends of Silk Road’ Initiative. The conference hosted eminent speakers from Pakistan and China and a large audience consisting of students, faculty, and researchers from all over Pakistan. Special Assistant to Prime Minister on Poverty Alleviation, Dr. Sania Nishtar, was the Chief Guest and Keynote speaker.
The conference featured an insightful discussion on Pakistan’s existing Poverty Alleviation Strategy, Covid-19’s impact on Pakistan’s fight against poverty, and CPEC’s role vis-à-vis alleviating poverty in the neighboring countries. The main purpose of the conference was to explore the Poverty Alleviation Strategy of China in an attempt to understand how Pakistan can learn from and employ China’s best practices. The conference was moderated by Prof Sikandar Shah, Director of LUMS Center for Chinese Legal Studies.
In his opening remarks, Senator Mushahid Hussain Sayed, Chairman Foreign Affairs Committee in the Senate of Pakistan & Founding Chairman, PCI, said that there is a lot to learn from China’s poverty alleviation strategy. By lifting 800 million people out of poverty, China has made history. Moreover, he said that on Coronavirus too, China had seen success due to timely measures, decisive leadership and cooperation of the people. Senator Mushahid Hussain termed the Belt & Road Initiative (BRI) as the most important diplomatic and developmental initiative of the 21st Century, with CPEC as its pillar..
In her Keynote speech, Dr. Sania Nishtar, Special Assistant to Prime Minister on Poverty Alleviation, briefed the participants about Pakistan’s poverty alleviation strategy. She said that framing the issue of poverty with the Chinese experience is a welcome and relevant initiative. . While commenting on the importance of CPEC, she said that CPEC is a paradigm of growth and it will provide a lot of opportunities in terms of job creation helping to alleviate poverty as well. . She said that the government of Pakistan has got its own poverty alleviation strategy called “Ehsaas Program” which contains 140 actions and programs. Moreover, she said that the government has planned more action plans to be included in the Ehsaas strategy. She said due to Coronavirus, there was 18% increase in food insecurity in Pakistan. She said a Nationwide Digital Survey was being done to evaluate households and the government was keen to include social protection as a fundamental right in the Constitution, with a whole-of-government approach, involving the Federal and provincial governments.
Professor Sikandar Shah, Director LUMS Center for Chinese legal studies, offered full support to the government of Pakistan of the academia in regards to devising poverty alleviation strategies.
Prof Xia Jingjie, Professor of Economics at the prestigious Peking University, while briefing the participants about China’s poverty alleviation strategy, said that hundreds of millions of rural laborers have migrated and worked in cities and hence have been lifted out of poverty. He said that in its rooting-out poverty campaign, the Chinese government adopted a simplified multidimensional poverty standard, i.e., Two-Not-Worries (not worrying about food and clothing) and Three-Guarantees (guaranteeing 9-year compulsory education for children and youth of school age, medical care and housing safety). Moreover,, a total of about 800 million poor people have been lifted out of poverty in China over the last 40 years since the country’s Reform and Opening up.
Professor Uzair J. Kayani, Assistant professor of law at LUMS said that there is a need to translate the Chinese experience of poverty alleviation to common law. Moreover, he said that Pakistan has a lot to learn from China. For instance, Pakistan can learn from China’s experience of bureaucratic reforms to lower costs.
Masood Khalid, former Ambassador of Pakistan to China, said that China is making great strides in almost every field and is now becoming a knowledge economy. He said that China has almost eliminated illiteracy. While speaking on how can Pakistan learn from the Chinese experience, he said that it needs to develop its own governance system like China. Moreover, he said that there is great potential in the tourism sector in Pakistan. He also called for learning from Pakistani students studying in China. He termed the Belt and Road Initiative as a great opportunity in overhauling infrastructure.
Dr. Vaqar Ahmed, Executive Director SDPI, put forward three main options for Pakistan for reviving the economy in the post covid recovery. Firstly, the country needs to put the structural reforms agenda back on track as per the commitment with our various development partners and IMF. Secondly, Pakistan needs to harvest the benefits arising from CPEC Phase-II, especially the special economic zones. Thirdly, Pakistan needs to exercise fiscal discipline
In his concluding remarks, Mustafa Hyder Sayed, Executive Director of Pakistan-China Institute, said that CPEC is not all about brick and mortar projects; instead, it has an inclusive people-centred approach. There is a joint working group on socioeconomic development and poverty. He briefed the participants about the multi-dimensional socioeconomic projects under CPEC and said that these projects are creating a lot of opportunities for the local communities.
At the end of the conference, there was a comprehensive question/answer session from the participants, which lasted for over 30 minutes.
ISLAMABAD, NOV 10 (DNA) – CGSS Management under the leadership of Lt Col Khalid Taimur Akram (Retd), Executive Director, CGSS met Tarek Dahroug, Ambassador of Egypt to Pakistan accompanied by Dr. Amir Nasr Eldin, First Secretary, Embassy of Egypt, Islamabad, Mr. Ahmed Yousry and Second Secretary, Embassy of Egypt, Islamabad.
During the detailed meeting, it was decided that CGSS will collaborate with Al-Azhar University in Cairo, Egypt in mutual areas of interest including academic exchange programs and joint research activities. It was also discussed that CGSS will work with other universities in Egypt.
Furthermore, both parties agreed to collaboratively work for the enhancement of bilateral relations and people to people contact between both the countries. Both parties also agreed to work for business exploration opportunities to strengthen economic ties between Egypt and Pakistan.
Various projects of mutual interests were also discussed and it was decided that CGSS will actively engage in activities with different institutions in Egypt.
The meeting was also attended by:
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Islamabad, Nov 10 (DNA). AIOU has finalized the tutors’ appointments for the millions of students enrolled in the programs offered in autumn 2020 semester including matriculation and FA. In order to provide timely information to the students about their concerned tutors, the same lists have been uploaded on the university website (www.aiou.edu.pk).
Students are, also, being informed about their tutors through SMS. Upon the directives of Prof Dr Zia Ul Qayyum, the tutors’ appointment process for rest of the academic programs has been further expedited and would be completed by the end of this month.
DNA
RAWALPINDI, NOV 10 – Court of Inquiry on the orders of COAS pertaining to the issue of redress of Inspector General Police Sindh’s grievances, in the backdrop of 18 Oct 2020 Karachi incident, has been completed. The Court of Inquiry has established that on night 18 / 19 Oct officers from Pakistan Rangers (Sindh) and ISI sector Headquarters Karachi were considerably seized with the fall out of desecration of Mazar-e-Quaid. They were under increasing public pressure to ensure prompt action as per the law.
Assessing the response of police authorities against this developing yet volatile situation to be slow and wanting, in a charged environment, the concerned ISI / Rangers officers decided to act, rather over zealously. They were indeed experienced enough to have acted more prudently and could have avoided creating an unwarranted situation that led to misunderstanding between the two state institutions.
Based on the recommendations of the Court of Inquiry, it has been decided to remove the concerned officers from their current assignments for further departmental proceedings and disposal at GHQ.
DNA
RAWALPINDI: Court of Inquiry on the orders of COAS pertaining to the issue of redress of Inspector General Police Sindh’s grievances, in the backdrop of 18 Oct 2020 Karachi incident, has been completed. The Court of Inquiry has established that on night 18 / 19 Oct officers from Pakistan Rangers (Sindh) and ISI sector Headquarters Karachi were considerably seized with the fall out of desecration of Mazar-e-Quaid. They were under increasing public pressure to ensure prompt action as per the law. Assessing the response of police authorities against this developing yet volatile situation to be slow and wanting, in a charged environment, the concerned ISI / Rangers officers decided to act, rather over zealously. They were indeed experienced enough to have acted more prudently and could have avoided creating an unwarranted situation that led to misunderstanding between the two state institutions.
Based on the recommendations of the Court of Inquiry, it has been decided to remove the concerned officers from their current assignments for further departmental proceedings and disposal at GHQ.
DNA
ISLAMABAD,, Nov 10 – China International Import Expo (CIIE) has reaffirmed the China’s commitment to open its borders to the outside world and aligned with the vision of the Belt & Road initiative.
This was stated by Shaikh Muhammad Shariq Chief representative of National Bank of Pakistan in Beijing, according to a report published by China Economic Net (CEN) on Tuesday.
He was addressing the Industrial Investment and International Financial Cooperation Forum held at the Expo.
The State Bank of Pakistan (SBP) and People’s Bank of China (PBC) made the currency swap arrangement in 2011, for three years, amounting to 10 billion yuan and 140 billion Pakistani rupees.
As a result of this, he said bilateral trade and investment witnessed significant growth and contributed to further strengthening the close and special relationship between the two countries and this was the second currency swap agreement that Pakistan had signed with any country.
“In 2018, the swap was extended for a period of three years, and the size was doubled to 20 billion yuan or 351 billion Pakistani rupees, as China became the largest trading partner, and the bilateral trade increased on a yearly basis”, Shaikh Shariq added.
Shariq told CEN that in 2018, the Long Term Plan (LTP) of CPEC was launched which turned China-Pakistan bilateral relations into long-term strategic economic partnership and the scope of the cooperation was extended in various new areas, including the financial sector.
Shaikh Muhammad Shariq further said that on the regulatory side, it was decided to strengthen cooperation in financial regulation, by promoting monetary cooperation between the central banks, research to expand the amount of currency swap.
This explored to enrich the scope; promote settlement in domestic currencies to reduce the demand for third-party currency. ICBC & Bank of China, Karachi branches are providing RMB clearing & settlement services in Pakistan.
“In 2018, National Bank of Pakistan joined the Belt & Road Bankers Roundtable initiative launched by ICBC to provide financial support to the projects in Belt & Road Countries. I had the honor to sign that agreement with ICBC on behalf of my bank” he stated.
Shariq expressed that CIIE 2020 is more significant due to the fact that it has been held during the time when the world is passing through a very critical phase of COVID-19.
The lockdowns have halted the world’s economy and countries closing their borders to the outside world, seriously affecting the global supply chains.
“To overcome the effects of COVID – 19, global cooperation, especially, in the field of finance is a must, as no country in the world can fight against this pandemic alone”.
Addressing through video link Dr. Ishrat Hussain, Advisor to PM and Former Governor of State Bank, Pakistan said that China should take advantage of Pakistan’s cheap labor and Pakistan can take advantage of Chinese technology & capital which would create a win-win situation for both countries.
It is noted that the theme of the Financial forum was Track change, the choice of China, and the world 2020.
DNA
BEIJING, Nov. 10 – Chinese anti-counterfeiting technology helps Pakistan combat illicit trade, according to a report published by China Economic Net (CEN).
Pakistani enterprises of diverse industries exhibited their products at the ongoing 3rd China International Import Expo (CIIE) in Shanghai.
Among all the exhibits, a small anti-counterfeiting mark unfolds how close the Pak-Sino economic ties are.
In Pakistan, tobacco use contributes to a significant number of early deaths, high healthcare costs and lost productivity. Increasing the unit price on tobacco products through taxes is the most effective tobacco prevention and control measure.
However, illicit tobacco trade undermines high prices by providing tobacco users with cheaper-priced alternatives. Therefore, applying tax stamps to tobacco products, which provides documentation that taxes have been paid, is an important tool to combat illicit trade.
The ‘Tax Paid’ stamps now affixed to Pakistan’s tobacco products uses the latest Chinese technology. Pakistan’s Maalik Creative Engineers (Pvt.) Ltd has established cooperation with China’s ASY Group to bring the world leading anti-counterfeiting technologies to Pakistan to support the country more effectively fight illicit trade.
“We adopt engraving intaglio, the technology also used in making paper money, to this tax stamp. Micrographics, today’s cutting-edge digital image reproduction technology, is also reflected in this stamp.
Moreover, there is a QR code to trace it to the source via scanning with mobile phone.” Liang Yuanhao, ASY Group President, talked about the advanced technologies behind the small tax stamp.
Besides tax stamps, the Group is also designing anti-counterfeiting packaging for Pakistani products including skincare products as protecting brands against fraud is a global challenge across all industries.
“Grey market activities and counterfeiting typically result in negative product performance, poor customer experience and sales fall, all of which can have a noteworthy impact on market value and ultimately damage the brand.
We are offering protection for Pakistani brands against forgery,” Liang said.
The Chinese entrepreneur is planning to set a plant in Pakistan and transfer technology to help improve the country’s anti-counterfeiting level.
The availability of abundant manpower in Pakistan and lowered freight are major factors attracting investment from China.
“Pakistan and China are brotherly friends, and we’ve got much support from both governments. Next year when COVID-19 pandemic eases up, I will definitely go to Pakistan to explore more cooperative possibilities,” Liang said near the end of the interview with CEN.
