ISLAMABAD, MAY 15 / DNA / = Foreign Minister Makhdoom Shah Mahmood Qureshi held a telephone conversation with his Japanese counterpart, Toshimitsu Motegi, on the Covid-19 pandemic and its aftermath.

Underscoring that the Pandemic was the gravest challenge to confront humanity this century, the Foreign Minister offered condolences over loss of precious lives, and  commended the effective measures being taken by Japan to contain the outbreak. The Foreign Minister thanked Japan for its assistance to Pakistan to combat the pandemic, as well as in dealing with the desert locust attack. While conveying his confidence that Pakistanis in Japan will be looked after, he assured Foreign Minister Motegi of all possible facilitation of Japanese nationals in Pakistan.

The two Ministers exchanged views about the socio-economic ramifications of the pandemic. Highlighting that the developing countries had to fight on two fronts, i.e.s, containing the virus, and staving off starvation, the Foreign Minister briefed Foreign Minister Motegi about Prime Minister Imran Khan’s “Global Initiative on Debt Relief” for developing countries. The Foreign Minister underscored that without immediate, coordinated and comprehensive actions to create fiscal space, the developing world may have to contend with dire social, political and economic consequences.

Touching upon the situation in Indian Occupied Jammu & Kashmir (IOJ&K), the Foreign Minister highlighted that human rights violations were continuing unabated and concerns had intensified about spread of the infection due to restrictions on information dissemination and unfettered access to medical and other essential supplies.  There were also concerns about demonization sof Indian Muslims in the context of Covid-19 and growing Islamophobia.

Both Foreign Ministers expressed commitment to further strengthen bilateral relations. It was agreed to commemorate the 70^th anniversary of establishment of Pakistan-Japan diplomatic relations in 2022 in a befitting manner.

TASHKENT, May 15 (agencies):Uzbekistan has extended quarantine measures until the end of May, while lifting a number of restrictions imposed earlier, the Special Republican Commission to Combat Coronavirus said Friday.

   The quarantine measures to counteract the spread of COVID-19 are extended until June 1, while domestic air and rail links will be partially resumed starting on May 18, the commission said.

   When organizing air and rail transportation, the public must comply with all quarantine rules, including limiting the number of passengers, disinfection and other sanitary requirements, it added.

   Earlier this month, Uzbekistan introduced red, yellow and green zones in the country depending on the sanitary and epidemiological situation of COVID-19.

   Many businesses are allowed to operate and citizens are allowed to drive their vehicles in green and yellow zones starting from May 18.

   Also, for the first time since the lockdown was imposed, parks and museums will reopen while sticking to social distancing rules.

   Uzbekistan has registered 2,652 confirmed COVID-19 cases with 11 deaths, and 2,136 people have recovered from the disease so far as the country resumed airlifting its citizens from abroad this week.

ISLAMABAD, May 15 (DNA): China Railway 19th Bureau Group has established 4G and GPS automatic dispatching system for the second phase of Thar coal mine project.

This aimed at ensuring cost reduction and efficiency improvement of Thar coal mining, Gwadar Pro reported on Friday.

The second phase of Thar coal mine project is expected an annual output of 7.6 million tons. Regarding that the system is able to improve productivity of Thar coal mine more than 15%, In other words due to the digital automatic system, now the annual output of the second phase of Thar coal mine project presumably could  be increased.

It is the first GPS automatic dispatching system of Pakistan. Up to now, total 13 excavators, 74 dumper and 12 relative apparatuses of the coalfield installed GPS and concluded in this system. Coverage has exceeded more than 80% of whole the second phase of Thar coal mine project.

Due to the harsh climatic conditions and complex geographical situation, traditional manual scheduling mode limited capacity of coal mining to a huge extent.

According to the mining personnel, this system is able to improve productivity effect of Thar coal mine more than 15%. The utilization of 4G and GPS automatic dispatching system can automatically trace the productive apparatuses through collecting the dynamic information and identifying the operative situation.

Therefore, a constant real-time tracking of coal mine production could be realized, which can effectively reduce the possible errors caused by manual scheduling meanwhile improve the accuracy of information.

Thar coal mine project is the first integrated project of coal and electricity under the CPEC and even in the whole of Pakistan. Located in the southeast of Sindh, Thar coalfield is the seventh largest brown coal mine in the world and the largest in Asia. The project will alleviate Pakistan’s energy shortage and high dependence on import, the report added.=DNA

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