KARACHI: Former Pakistani Wasim Akram has hopped on to the Turkey bandwagon, travelling to Istanbul and terming the capital of one of Pakistan’s top allies “a mesmerising city”.

The famed cricket commentator’s visit comes as numerous Pakistanis head to Turkey for vacations and artistes of popular Islamic history drama, Ertugrul, announce their trips to the South Asian nation.

“Hello from stunning Istanbul first time ever must say it’s a mesmerising city,” Akram wrote, adding hashtags #amazing and #ElectricCity.

A day prior, Ertugrul star Cem Ucan aka Aliyar Bey and Pakistan’s Imran Abbas hung out together and played a game of pool during the former’s visit to Turkey.

The 44-year-old Turkish actor shared photos from his meeting with the Khuda Aur Muhabbat star, writing: “THANK’S FOR YOUR VISIT MY BROTHER.”

Naveed Miraj

ISLAMABAD: Responding to media queries regarding role of Saudi Arabia in assessment of Pakistan’s FATF Action Plan, the Spokesperson categorically rejected the story circulating on segment of the media as false and baseless.

Pakistan and Saudi Arabia enjoy strong fraternal ties and the two countries have always cooperated with each other on all matters of bilateral, regional and international importance. Pakistan greatly values its relations with the brotherly Saudi Arabia and firmly rejects such malicious propaganda.

FATF will announce its assessment of Pakistan’s progress on the Action Plan and the future course of action after conclusion of its Plenary Meeting.

Says the economy has been revived and all the economic indicators are on the positive trajectory. He admitted there is price hike but Prime Minister Imran Khan is striving hard to control the situation 

A.M.Bhatti

ISLAMABAD: Minister for Information and Broadcasting Shibli Faraz has said the opposition parties want to weaken the country and democracy.

Addressing a news conference along with Adviser on Interior Shahzad Akbar in Islamabad on Thursday, he said the opposition parties want to create chaos and uncertainty as they are scared that their politics will end if Prime Minister Imran Khan succeeds in his mission to take forward the country on the path of progress and development.

The Information Minister said the opposition parties can no longer hoodwink the masses through their political drama based on vested interests.

Shibli Faraz said the economy has been revived and all the economic indicators are on the positive trajectory. He admitted there is price hike but Prime Minister Imran Khan is striving hard to control the situation.

He said the institutions were destroyed in the past but we are trying to bring improvement in them by appointing people of good repute there.  He regretted that the opposition parties want clash amongst the institutions.

Regarding PPP, the Information Minister said the party has turned into a regional party. He rejected as baseless the statement made by Sindh Chief Minister at the floor of Sindh Assembly that a federal minister threatened him of the dismissal of the provincial government if a case was not filed against PML (N) leader Captain Retired Safdar.

Shahzad Akbar said the PPP government in Sindh fanned controversies on the incident that took place at the Mausoleum of founding father Quaid-e-Azam. He said the very acts of the opposition parties are only hurting the image of Pakistan.

ISLAMABAD : Foreign Minister (FM) Shah Mehmood Qureshi has said on Thursday Pakistan and Uzbekistan enjoy deep fraternal relations and both the countries are committed to further strengthen the bilateral relations.

He expressed these views during a telephonic conversation with the foreign minister of the Republic of Uzbekistan Abdulaziz Kamilov.

Shah Mehmood Qureshi said an inaugural round of bilateral political consultations between Pakistan and Uzbekistan will soon be held in Islamabad.He said Pakistan is committed to continuing its reconciliatory efforts for the establishment of peace in the region including Afghanistan.

Both the foreign ministers also agreed to increase the trade volume between the two countries.

Last week, Foreign Minister Shah Mehmood Qureshi had urged the commonwealth countries to utilize commonalities in legal and administrative systems to overcome protectionism and maintain free trade.

In his virtual address to the Commonwealth Foreign Affairs Ministers Meeting, FM Qureshi had called for launching dialogue for deeper and more sustained debt relief for stronger and more sustained economic recovery.

He highlighted the challenges posed by covid-19 and emphasized the need for greater cooperation to fight the coronavirus pandemic.

ISLAMABAD: The plenary of the Financial Action Task Force (FATF) has started its three-day deliberations in Paris and will take up Pakistan’s case on the last day of the meeting on Friday.

The plenary, which was earlier scheduled in June but got postponed due to the COVID-19 pandemic, will decide Pakistan’s fate whether to keep the country on the grey list for another extended period or to remove it.

In February 2020, the FATF plenary granted Pakistan a grace period of four months to complete its 27-point action plan against money-laundering and terror financing (ML&TF) after it noted that the country was compliant on 14 points.

Pakistan was placed on the grey list in June 2018 after finding out major deficiencies in its compliance obligation on 40 recommendations of FATF placed for all 200 jurisdictions.

Pakistan hopeful of positive outcome

According to a The News report, the authorities are hopeful of a positive outcome after the country enacted at least 15 pieces of legislations many of them through a joint sitting of Parliament to fulfil the requirements set by the international watchdog.

They are confident that there are minimal chances for placing Islamabad on the blacklist, the report said.

“Pakistan’s case will be discussed on October 23, 2020 at FATF’s plenary meeting and our efforts will not go waste,” one top government official said on the condition of anonymity here on Wednesday.

“We are expecting a positive nod from the FATF’s epic body,” he hoped.

Pakistani authorities claimed that the Joint Working Group (JWG) of FATF so far found the country compliant on total 21 points out of 27 action plan and it is yet to see how much FATF’s plenary accepted and then the fate of the country would be decided.

Final announcement on Friday

According to a FATF’s announcement, the first plenary under the two-year German FATF Presidency of Dr Marcus Pleyer has started virtually due to the on-going health crisis.

“As the COVID-19 pandemic continues to have a devastating impact around the world, the FATF remains committed to proceeding with its work. As a result of travel restrictions caused by the pandemic, the FATF plenary will meet virtually,” it said.

During the next three days, delegates will discuss a range of issues, including the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic on countries’ ability to detect, prevent and investigate money laundering and terrorist financing. Delegates will also review the progress made by some jurisdictions identified as presenting a risk to the financial system.

The outcomes of the FATF plenary will be published on Friday, October 23, at the close of the meeting.

ISLAMABAD : Prime Minister Imran Khan on Wednesday said that expensive electricity production becomes a hurdle in the growth of small and medium enterprises as it increases the cost of production and eventually makes it difficult for domestic products to compete with foreign goods in international markets.

Chairing a meeting on the promotion of industrial processes, especially the problems faced by small and medium enterprises and their solutions, the premier said that the country’s development is linked to the promotion of industrial processes.

The meeting was attended by federal ministers Hammad Azhar, Asad Umar, Umar Ayub, Adviser on Commerce Abdul Razak Dawood, special assistants Nadeem Babar and Tabish Gohar, federal secretaries of finance, energy, petroleum and other senior officials. 

They discussed various proposals for resolving issues facing industries, especially small and medium enterprises, including costly electricity.

In order to save the industrial sector, especially the small and medium enterprises from the current economic situation and the losses caused by the coronavirus, it was imperative to find solutions to the problems facing the industrial sector on a priority basis, the prime minister maintained.

Welcoming various proposals put forward in this regard, he said all possible efforts and steps would be taken to promote the industrial process and utilize the existing capacity in the country.

The prime minister also directed that the proposals put forward to the industrial sector for resolving energy-related issues should be finalised as soon as possible so that they could be implemented immediately.