DNA
LAHORE– Deputy Chairman Senate Saleem Mandviwalla visited residence of late Ch. Ahmed Mukhtar, former Defence Minister in Lahore and expressed condolences on sad demise of Ch. Ahmed Mukktar.
Expressing his condolences with family members of late Ahmed Mukhtar, Deputy Chairman Senate prayed to Allah to rest the departed soul in eternal peace and grant courage to the bereaved to bear this loss.
DNA
KARACHI – The Hult Prize is a global competition that crowd-sources ideas from MBA and college students. Recently this event was held at the Institute of Business Management (IoBM), Karachi. The theme was ‘Food for Good.’ The participating teams of IoBM students shared business ideas to reduce food wastage and envision such viable food enterprises that can improve supply chains and stimulate economies. All students from IoBM were invited to participate. Over the years, the Hult Prize has brought impact-focused programs, events, and training to over a million students globally, creating opportunities for youth to act for a better tomorrow.
Mr. Talib Karim, President IoBM delivered the Welcome Address. He praised the initiative and said that it will add value to IoBM’s efforts in developing entrepreneurs. The ten student teams from IoBM selected to present their ideas for the Hult Prize were mentored by leading corporate icons of Pakistan. The Keynote Speakers were Ali Mukhtar (CEO, Fatima Gobi Ventures) and Shaista Ayesha (CEO, Seed Ventures). The judges included Owais Shaikh (Startup Mentor, Founder Institute), Tehmina Chaudhry (Managing Director, INSTA Foods), Syed Zafar Hussain (Program Manager, National Incubation Centre), and Rehan Muzammil (HoD Entrepreneurship Department, IoBM). Sohaib Amir (Vice Curator, Global Shapers), Talha Bin Afzal (Program Manager, Pasha), and Naureen Hayat (Co-Founder, Tez Financial Services) were the Guests of Honor. Dr. Shujaat Mubarik, Associate Dean, CBM, IoBM, presented the closing note. He appreciated the organizing committee’s efforts to present such a thought-provoking online event during challenging times.
ISLAMABAD, December 1 : Sino-Pak cooperation to drive ahead Pakistan’s Agri-economy, under the 2nd phase of CPEC, says a report published by Gwadar Pro on Tuesday.
According to the report, China and Pakistan can strengthen cooperation in seed technology, farm machinery, water and irrigation management, food processing, dairy technology, international compliance, corporate farming, technology transfer at all levels.
Prof. Iqrar A. Khan, Vice Chancellor of University of Agriculture, Faisalabad (UAF) recently told Gwadar Pro that China’s yields at the farm level and products in the markets have evidenced huge leap. “China itself is a large consumer market.
The two countries can work together for serving markets on both sides. With CPEC and regional connectivity, the two sides can have joint access to markets in a greater region (Central Asia, Middle East, South East and Africa).”
Agricultural economy of Pakistan is in urgent need of reform. The yield is stagnant and productivity is lower than other countries in the region, with food imports surpassing $7 billion.
Iqrar argued the priority areas of improvement include Genetics (biotechnology and genome editing), seed technology, mechanization and precision, value addition, good agricultural practices (GAP) and skill development in which China can be a great help.
Pakistan’s high-quality items include rice, cotton made ups, potato, corn, mango, citrus, poultry, beef, fodder and hey etc. “Close proximity is the advantage for China and Pakistan.
However, institutional arrangements are still necessitated to be strengthened and the business to business needs a better match making to create successful joint ventures. A facilitation beyond official channels is also required,” Iqrar added
ISLAMABAD: The Pakistan Red Crescent Society (PRCS) has taken notice of rumors mongering and gossiping in the national and social media with regard to the death of a female employee, Kainat Tariq, as the police have registered a case and are investigating the unfortunate incident.In a statement, a spokesman said in addition to the registration of case, the senior management had also taken a serious notice of the incident.
The spokesman said the senior management removed acting Secretary General Khalid bin Majeed from all temporary appointments and suspended his all official assignments with immediate effect and constituted a high level independent, impartial and transparent inquiry committee in this regard.The spokesman said Chairman PRCS Abrar ul Haq is committed to ensuring a free, fair and transparent inquiry and delivering justice to the aggrieved family without entertaining any pressure whatsoever.
Rana Farrukh
DNA
Islamabad – Africa was the future for the world and Pakistani investors should visit Tanzania to explore JVs and investment in order to capitalize on the emerging business and economic opportunities in the African region. This was observed by Paul F Koyi, President of Tanzania Chamber of Commerce, Industry & Agriculture (TCCIA) while addressing the business community during a visit to Islamabad Chamber of Commerce & Industry (ICCI).
He visited ICCI along with a delegation of Tanzanian entrepreneurs and exchanged views with SardarYasirIlyas Khan, President ICCI and his team to promote bilateral trade and economic relations with Tanzania and Pakistan. MianAkramFarid Chairman Founder, Abdul Rehman Khan Vice President ICCI, Umar Hussain, OmaisKhattak, Muhammad Shakir, KhursheedBarlas, Khalid Chaudhry and others were also present at the occasion.
Paul F Koyi said that Tanzania was determined to promote business relations with Pakistan and that’s why despite the challenges of Covid-19, Tanzanian business delegation has come to Pakistan to interact with Pakistani counterparts in order to explore business collaborations. He said that there was a disconnection between the private sectors of both countries as for the 3 decades, no Tanzanian delegation had visited Pakistan.
Therefore, more meetings and exchange of delegations were needed to know each other, build confidence and improve trade relations. He said that being agro economies, Pakistan and Tanzania have good potential to cooperate in value addition of agro products. He said both countries should set up joint working groups at government level and a Pak-Tanzania Business Council to promote long-term cooperation between the private sectors of both countries.
Addressing the delegation, SardarYasirIlyas Khan, President, Islamabad Chamber of Commerce and Industry said that despite huge potential, Africa was still an unexplored market for Pakistan, however, now Pakistan has made a Look Africa policy to focus on this big market. He said that developing close relations with Tanzania was important for Pakistan to get better penetration into the African market. He said that our neighbours were exporting products worth billions of dollars to Africa in which Pakistan also has competitive advantage. He emphasized that with more focus and strenuous efforts, Pakistan can make a significant increase in its exports to Africa.
He said that Pak-Tanzania bilateral trade of around US$ 154 million in 2019-20 was much below their actual potential and stressed that both countries should focus on promoting business linkages between their private sectors to further improve bilateral trade volume. He said that many Pakistani products including pharmaceuticals, textiles, surgical instruments, sports goods, engineering goods, IT products could find a good market in Tanzania. He identified agriculture, pharmaceuticals, minerals, IT, tourism as potential areas of mutual cooperation between Pakistan and Tanzania. He assured that ICCI would take a delegation to Tanzania to explore JVs and investment.
MianAkramFarid, Chairman Founder Group said that frequent interactions between private sectors and exchange of trade delegations should be the way forward for promoting bilateral trade and economic relations between Pakistan and Tanzania. He said that Tanzania provided Pakistan easy access to the huge African market while Pakistan provided easy access to Tanzania to South Asian market, thus promoting strong bilateral business cooperation should be a high priority of both countries. ICCI and TCCIA also signed an MoUto promote bilateral trade, JVs and investment between Pakistan and Tanzania with joint efforts.
DNA
ISLAMABAD, DEC 1 – The Japanese Government has offered training programmes, which are held in Japan for Pakistani nationals every year as a part of development cooperation for the further development of Pakistan. These programmes are implemented by JICA (Japan International Cooperation Agency), thanks to the support by Japanese ministries, municipalities, universities and relevant organizations.
Although around 80 trainees are to participate in a total of 61 courses in FY2020, due to restriction on overseas travel by the COVID-19 pandemic, these curriculums had to be reconsidered.
Therefore, JICA is exploring alternative methods such as online courses so that opportunities to participate in the trainings will not be lost even in challenging times. The programmes are gradually being decided as shown in the attached tables. The programmes will restart on a full scale once the pandemic calms down.
Japanese Government would be pleased if these trainees who will learn many things in Japan could build a bright future of Pakistan.
(1) Group and Region-Focused Programme
– Many trainees participate in a course of diverse sectors.
– Around 60 trainees participate in 50-60 programmes for basically 1-2 months with the participants from the other countries.
– Approximately 5,000 trainees have joined under this programme since 1957.
(2) Young Leaders Training Programme
– The programme targets young people who are around 20-35 years old and are expected to lead the development of Pakistan in the future.
– Around 10 trainees participate in 1 programme for 2-3 weeks.
– 495 trainees have joined under this programme since 1991.
(3) Long-term Training Programme
– Participants study at Japanese universities pursuing masters or post-doctor degrees for 2-3 years.
– 32 trainees have studied under this programme since 2016.
(4) Country Focus Training Programme
– Order-made programmes which focus on specific sector for a certain country.
– The period is less than one year.
LAHORE : Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz (PML-N) has submitted an application to Punjab Home Department for extension in parole period of its President Shehbaz Sharif and his son Hamza Shehbaz.
Shehbaz Sharif and Hamza Shehbaz were released on five-day parole period on November 27 (Friday), following the death of Begum Shamim Akhtar, which is being ended today at 2:30 PM.
The PML-N General Secretary Ata Tarar has submitted the application to the home department.
A large number of people want to come and condole the death of Begum Shamim Akhtar with Shehbaz and Hamza, according to the application.
BNP-Mengal’s head Sardar Akhtar Mengal today arrived at Shehbaz Sharif’s Model Town residence in Lahore and extend condolence over the death of his mother.
Shehbaz and his son were released from Kot Lakhpat Jail on Friday on five-day parole following the death of his mother Begum Shamim Akhtar.
Earlier, on Thursday, Punjab Chief Minister Usman Buzdar had approved the release of PML-N President Shehbaz Sharif and Hamza Shahbaz on parole for five days to receive the body of his mother at Lahore airport and to offer her funeral prayers.
The lawyers had pleaded for their 15-day release on parole, however, the provincial government approved their five-day release on parole.
LAHORE : With an aim to improve the transport system in the province, Chief Minister (CM) Punjab Usman Buzdar has given approval for the establishment of international standard bus terminal in Lahore.
In this context, CM Usman Buzdar has set deadline of December 10 for the concerned officials to present the design of the new terminal, which will be constructed at Thokar Niaz Baig.He has also announced that similar terminals will also be constructed in Multan and Faisalabad while green electric busses are being introduced in major cities including Lahore.
CM Punjab directed to take necessary steps for purchasing the buses and warned that any compromise on quality will not be tolerated. The complete process should be transparent and follow all set rules and regulations, he stressed.
He also said that with electric buses, environmental pollution and smog will be reduced.
Last week, Chief Minister Punjab Usman Buzdar had inaugurated Firdous Market Underpass in Lahore.
According to details, the 540-meter long two-lane dual carriageway underpass would facilitate traffic from the adjoining areas with special arrangements for water disposal.
ISLAMABAD: Adviser to Prime Minister on Finance Abdul Hafeez Shaikh will chair the meeting of the Economic Coordination Committee (ECC) on Wednesday (tomorrow) to discuss a 10-point agenda.
In the forthcoming meeting, ECC is likely to approve Karachi transformation plan announced by Prime Minister Imran Khan in September.
The premier had announced ‘historic’ Rs1100 billion financial package for the execution of a transformation plan meant to address the city’s issues and developmental requirements.
The committee will deliberate upon the recommendations for ending regulatory duty on cotton import which aims to bring raw cotton. It will also mull over the provision of Regasified Liquefied Natural Gas (RLNG) to export sector on discounted rates.
The agenda also includes decisions regarding waiving off national highway loans; supply of imported sugar to state-owned utility stores; provision of gas supply to Pakistan Steel Mills.
A summary will be presented to the committee for repair work of the Islamabad High Court (IHC) building and gas supply to Sui Southern Gas Company (SSGC) from Benari field besides approving the gas supply in accordance with its target. It is also expected that ECC will approve gas supplies from a third-party company or exploration firm.
In the previous meeting, the Economic Coordination Committee (ECC) had approved a technical supplementary grant for the advance purchases of COVID-19 vaccines.
The ECC members had deliberated upon the six-month extension of payment of interest on loans acquired from G20 countries and the matter related to gas supply to Engro Fertilizers. The committee’s members approved gas supplies to Engro Fertilizers.
Moreover, the committee had granted permission to Punjab province for importing 340,000 tonnes wheat through the Trading Corporation of Pakistan (TCP).
The committee had allocated funds for the payment of salaries of Pakistan Steel Mills (PSM) workers; a technical supplementary grant worth Rs500 million for education ministry; approval of Rs683.3 million budget for National Information Technology Board (NITB).
KARACHI : 42 members of Pakistani contingent have received their 3rd negative COVID-19 test results after day-6 testing, an official of New Zealand health ministry said on Tuesday.
Total 46 members of the squad, who were initially tested negative, were tested on Monday and of them, 42 have received negative results, while three results are still under investigation to determine if they are historical cases and one result is pending.
“Day 6 swabs were taken yesterday from 46 members of the Pakistan cricket squad in Christchurch who to date have returned negative test results for COVID-19,” said the spokesperson of New Zealand health ministry.
“Of those, 42 have subsequently returned a further negative test result. Three are under investigation to determine whether they are historical cases, and one test result is pending,” the spokesperson added.
The spokesperson, said that the three cases under investigation have returned positive PCR tests.
“We are looking at these further to determine if they are historical infections. An update will be provided tomorrow.”
However, the spokesperson added that the team is not allowed to train until the Canterbury DHB medical officer of health determines they are satisfied that any training activities are unlikely to transmit COVID-19.
It is worth mentioning that six members of Pakistan squad were tested positive on day 1 of testing, two of them were later confirmed as “historical”, non-infectious and were subsequently allowed to rejoin the squad.
One more player returned with a positive test on day 3 testing which now makes reported active COVID-19 cases in Pakistan squad to 4. All moved to a quarantine facility.
On Saturday, the New Zealand Health authorities conducted serology (blood) testing on all 53 members present in Christchurch. As a result, a further 11 people (in addition to the two others) returned positive serology indicating previous “historic” infections.
When contacted to further understand “historical” cases, an official said that people who have previously had COVID-19 sometimes produce “weak” positive test results weeks or months afterwards.
“To reiterate, these people (historic cases) are not infectious and don’t pose a risk to others,” It said.
