ISLAMABAD, JAN 16 (DNA) – The Islamabad Chamber of Commerce & Industry (ICCI) has resented yet another increase by the government in the prices of petroleum products and termed it an unwise decision that would go against the interests of businesses and the general public giving rise to more inflation and high cost of doing business. It would ultimately make it more difficult for the business community to revive the business and economic activities in the country.

Sardar Yasir Ilyas Khan, President, Islamabad Chamber of Commerce and Industry said that the people and businesses were already struggling to combat the impact of Covid-19 pandemic and in these tough conditions, increasing price of petrol by Rs.3.20 and diesel by Rs.2.95 per per litre would create more problems for the economy.

He said that the government was also preparing to increase electricity tariff, which would put additional burden on the common man and the businesses. He said that the repeated hikes in POL products and utility tariffs would shatter the confidence of investors as they needed predictable and consistent policies and tariffs to make investment in Pakistan.

ICCI President said that in the prevailing difficult circumstances, people and businesses were looking towards some relief measures from the government as was done by the governments around the world to save their nations from deep troubles. Therefore, it was the need of the hour that the government should have considered making cut in power tariffs and prices of POL products to bring down the cost of doing business thus enabling industrial and business activities to flourish in the country.

But on the contrary, the government was making decisions that would further enhance the cost of doing business and make our products more uncompetitive in the international market. He was of the view that raising the price of petrol and diesel would further increase the production cost as it would make transport more expensive and would have a harmful effect on agriculture and other sectors.

Sardar Yasir Ilyas Khan said that the government has made petroleum products an important source of revenue collection which was not a wise approach. He said that the government was currently getting around Rs.42 per liter on petrol and diesel in terms of taxes and petroleum levy.

He urged that the government should make significant cut in taxes and levy on petroleum products to give much needed relief to the businesses that would also reduce inflation. He said that most of the electricity in Pakistan was generated from fossil fuel due to which the price of electricity was higher in the region and this has multiplied the cost of doing business.

Therefore, he stressed that the government should focus on renewable energy sources for power generation that would provide cheap energy and bring down inflation as well.=DNA

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DNA

KARACHI – Demanding smooth supply of gas to all industries without any discrimination, the Federation of Pakistan Chambers of Commerce and Industry (FPCCI) ex-president and Businessmen Panel Chairman Mian Anjum Nisar has said that suspension of gas supply to industries, including captive power plants would be detrimental to the national economy.

He was talking to a delegation of various industrial estates, who met him to brief about the worst gas supply situation to the industry across the country. The industrial associations’ delegation observed that the government has also halted the RLNG supply to all sectors and presently no RLNG is available to CNG, fertilizer, and captive power as the government has stopped gas supply to power sector and export industry.

Mian Anjum Nisar stated that suspension of gas to the local industry amidst Covid-19 outbreak would severely affect production process, making it difficult to manufacture life-saving drugs and would directly affect the public.

He said that after closure of RLNG supply to the power sector the government will generate electricity from furnace oil and diesel owing to which the electricity cost will increase manifold against generation by RLNG. Though the captive power plants meant for export industry were stopped for one day in a week as per the decision of cabinet, but the decision will reduce the textile products production by 16 percent. Its impact is expected next month in the form of decline in exports, he said.

Mian Anjum Nisar warned that if the supply of gas to industries was continued to disrupt, the process of industrial production would come to a standstill. In such a case, the increase in imports will lead to deteriorating balance of trade, which will pose a serious threat to the improving economy and will also reduce local industrial production process.

He said that in order to optimally use the scarce available natural gas resource, an exercise was initiated with respect to assessing the usage of gas by Captive Power Plants (CPPs). The CPPs with electricity connection are 976, of which 350 are on SNGPL while 626 are on SSGCL system. Out of the above total 1,211 CPPs, only 227 are cogeneration units which not only generate power for self-consumption but also generate heat energy for their industrial use.

FPCCI former president said that every year it is assured that there will be no gas load-shedding, but on the contrary gas load-shedding has begun, which will have a direct impact on industrial production and exports.

He was of the view that Prime Minister Imran Khan has also repeatedly highlighted the importance of increasing exports, but in practice the industries are suffering from the gas crisis.

Mian Anjum Nisar said that even after closing down the supply to all sectors of economy, the domestic consumers across Pakistan’s main cities of Lahore, Gujranwala, Faisalabad, Sialkot, Rawalpindi, Karachi, Quetta and Peshawar are either experiencing no supply of gas or it is available at painful low pressure.

The BMP chairman said that the fear which the businessmen had been highlighting for the last many months that in Jan 2021, the RLNG crisis will worsen has unfortunately proven correct. The main reason is the government’s failure to arrange the LNG vessels for the first 20 days of Jan 2021 through future trade in Aug-Sep.

Owing to this negligence, the government procured the costly LNG as it issued tenders almost one month before for next month for the winter season 2020-21. On account of the ill-conceived strategy, the government received the highest-ever bids in spot trading for almost every month. Shockingly, for the first 20 days of Jan, the government failed to attract any LNG bids for three LNG cargoes. Afterwards, the government arranged an urgent tender for three cargoes for the first 20 days of Jan, but the LNG suppliers came up with the highest-ever bids at $12.95-19.8 per mmbtu.

He said that natural gas in the country to all bulk consumers including power, fertilizer, industry, CNG, cement and residential consumers is supplied through the extensive network of these two gas utility companies.

With the passage of time, gas stock has decreased due to natural depletion whereas new natural gas discoveries have barely kept pace with the natural depletion and there has been no net increase in the availability of indigenous gas for the last many years. Comparing gas production of last two years, a depletion of about 9.5 percent was witnessed, registering reduction of at least 400mmcfd of gas in the system.

BEIJING, JAN.16 – China and Pakistan agreed to organize cultural and tourism activities, on the occasion of the 70th anniversary of the establishment of diplomatic relations between the two countries.

According to Gwadar Pro, Pakistani Ambassador Moin ul Haque held a meeting with Zhang Xu, Vice-Minister of Culture and Tourism at the Ministry of Culture and Tourism of China.

During the meeting, the two sides reviewed on-going cooperation in the fields of culture, tourism, and people-to-people exchanges and vowed to further deepen their bilateral engagements in the future.

Expressing satisfaction with the steady development of bilateral cultural ties, both sides noted that the all-weather friendship between Pakistan and China provided a strong foundation for further enhancing bilateral engagements in domains of culture, media cooperation, and heritage protection.

They agreed that both countries should make optimum use of existing linkages to deepen bilateral cultural exchanges and also institutionalize new mechanisms for coordinated and wide-ranging development of ties in relevant fields.

In this regard, the expansion of bilateral tourism could become a new area of cooperation between Pakistan and China.

Zhang Xu said that China is willing to work with Pakistan to successfully organize cultural and tourism activities for the 70th anniversary of the establishment of diplomatic relations under the background of the COVID-19 epidemic, further implement the bilateral cultural and tourism cooperation agreement, and give full play to the role of Pakistan’s Chinese Cultural Center.

He further said that the all-weather strategic partnership between China and Pakistan has maintained a high level of development and has become a model for building a community with a shared future for mankind.

Zhang added that the two countries have achieved fruitful results in mutually beneficial cooperation in cultural, art, and people-to-people exchanges.

The Ambassador briefed Zhang Xu about Pakistan’s history, diverse cultural heritages, cuisine, beautiful landscapes, and monuments which could attract a large number of Chinese tourists in the future.

He updated the Vice Minister about the Government of Pakistan’s special initiatives for attracting international tourists to the country.

Haque also informed him about the Embassy’s Tourism Initiative, under which a new tourism website in the Chinese language has been developed and would be launched soon.

Both sides also discussed the celebratory events to commemorate the 70th anniversary of the establishment of diplomatic ties in 2021.

They agreed that relevant departments of the two governments should make the best preparations for anniversary celebrations and celebrate it as befitting the rich history of the Pakistan-China friendship.

In this regard, Vice-Minister Zhang assured the Ambassador complete support and assistance of the Chinese Ministry of Culture and its relevant departments.

Abid Raza

LAHORE: The phase III clinical trials for a Chinese coronavirus vaccine candidate at the Shifa International Hospital in Islamabad will end this week.

The lead physician of the clinical trial, Dr Ejaz A Khan told Geo.tv that the Ad5-nCoV vaccine is developed by CanSino Biologics and a research unit backed by the Chinese military.

“The trials began in September last year with a target of 17,500 volunteers.”

The physician, who is also the chairman of infection control at the hospital, said the sample will be reviewed by Dalhousie University in Canada. “The university will determine the efficacy of the vaccine.”

The trial will then enter phase IV which is when a vaccine is green-lighted for manufacturing, marketing, and distribution, he added.

A health official told Geo.tv that the data of Chinese vaccines, Sinopharm and Ad5-nCoV, has been submitted to the Drug Regulatory Authority of Pakistan (DRAP) for grant of emergency use.

“First limited supply [of vaccine] likely to start in February,” the official added.

The first-ever large-scale trial in Pakistan was conducted at five centres; two in Karachi and Lahore each and, one in Islamabad.

In the federal capital, the Shifa International Hospital repurposed a building previously used for COVID-19 testing for the trial where volunteers, recruited through NGOs, hospitals and corporations, arrived by appointment to get the jab.

To volunteer, the individual must be 18 and above, not have tested positive for COVID-19, not have immune deficiencies, and not be pregnant for the trial duration.