NEWS of SEPTEMBER 2005
30-09-2005
President General Pervez Musharraf has said the government will set
up oil refineries at Gwadar to serve as a regional trade hub and provide cost
effective fuel for sustaining higher economic growth.Addressing senior civil
servants he said the government is striving to develop gas, coal, water and
alternate energy sources as part of its strategy to minimize the country’s
dependence on imported oil.President Musharraf said Pakistan has reduced its
dependence on oil for power generation from seventy to fiftynine percent through
greater usage of gas and intends to bring down to thirty percent.The President
said Pakistan also needs big water reservoirs to meet its growing water and
energy requirements. (
Prime Minister Shaukat Aziz invited South Koreans to invest in the
infrastructure development in
Pakistan has been declared in a recent World Bank report as top 10 reformer countries in the world, and has been ranked 60th in case of doing business list among 155 countries by the International Financial Corporation (IFC). “We have liberalized and opened up our economy for private sector investment and provided a level-playing field to both domestic and foreign investors,” said Board of Investment Chairman Waseem Haqqie at the launching ceremony of World Investment Report 2005 “Trans-national Corporation and Internationalization of R&D” at United Nations Information Centre. Mr Haqqie said the government had adopted investment friendly policies for the promotion foreign direct investment (FDI). He said that Pakistan had attracted $152.2 billion FDI during the last financial year in five sectors of oil and gas, information technology and telecommunication, financial sector, pharmaceutical, power and construction. Pakistan, he said, had been focusing on oil and gas, agriculture, power, telecommunication and infrastructure sectors for investment. (Dawn)
A high-level UAE delegation led by UAE Ambassador Nasir Al Hababi held a meeting with Minister for Privatization and Investment Dr Hafeez Shaikh and Executive Director General BoI Talat Miyan. The delegation showed their keen interest for investment in various projects including establishment of 5-star hotel, shopping plaza, golf course and recreational facilities etc., in Islamabad. While speaking on the occasion, Dr Shaikh said the investment image of Pakistan was improving day by day because of investment-friendly environment created by conducive policies. He said, the Board of Investment was developing policies, favourable to private investors, both local and foreign under the guidelines provided by the top leadership of the country. (The News)
A five-member delegation of leading US pharmaceutical companies has suggested for early registration and pricing mechanism for innovative pharmaceutical products in Pakistan. The delegation led by Nigel Thompson was talking to Commerce Minister Humayun Akhtar Khan. The delegation emphasized that multinational companies draw their plans much in advance and one of the factors discouraging them in Pakistan was long registration period. (Dawn)
Pakistani and Chinese companies entered into a joint venture project worth $3 million to boost the textile sector of Pakistan. These companies have agreed to manufacture Optical Brightening Agent (OBA), which is used in textile, paper, plastic and household and personal care products’ manufacturing. An announcement in that regard was made at a meeting of the FPCCI standing committee on dye, chemicals and allied items at the Federation House. (The News)
Pakistan, China and 14 other Euro-Asian countries adopted a declaration, pledging to cooperate in strengthening their road transport network. The countries that signed the declaration at the end of a two-day conference included Azerbaijan, Belarus, Czech Republic, Georgia, Greece, Iran, Kazakhstan, Mongolia, Poland, Romania, Slovak, Turkey, Ukraine and Vietnam. They agreed that economic and trade development in Asia and Europe would be greatly enhanced by strengthening mutual cooperation in road infrastructure. (The News)
Romania has offered its duty-free zones for establishing warehouses to store Pakistani goods and export to Eastern and Western European countries. This offer was made by the leader of a 13-member high-level Romanian delegation and Secretary of State for Economy and Commerce, Ionel Mangtog in a meeting with Director General EPB, Javed Anwar. He said Romania had 20 duty-free zones, one of them located at its largest harbour at Black Sea, Constanta Port. (The News)
Pakistan will seek removal of existing barriers in the way of trade and investment within the ECO region, when the ECO Council of Ministers meets in Kazakhstan tomorrow. Pakistan will also push forward the early implementation of the Transit Transport Framework Agreement (TTFA) and the Agreement on Promotion and Protection of Investment (APPI), a foreign office statement said. The Minister of State for Foreign Affairs Makhdum Khusro Bakhtyar will be leading the Pakistan delegation to the 15th Annual Meeting of ECO Council of Ministers at Astana, Kazakhstan on October 1. (The News)
Foreign exchange reserves of the country increased by $14.6 million to $12.016 billion in the week ending Sept 24, said a statement issued by the State Bank of Pakistan (SBP). During the week, reserves held by the SBP went up by $76 million to $9.431 billion this week compared with $9.355 billion a week ago. During the same period, net foreign reserves held by the banks (other than the SBP) decreased by $61.4 million to $2.585 billion from $2.647 billion. (Daily Times)
29-09-2005
President Pervez Musharraf has expressed confidence that the existing friendly relations between Pakistan and Australia would be further strengthened through increased economic and commercial co-operation. (Business Recorder)
Prime Minister Shaukat Aziz arrived with a bagful of proposals to seek expansion of business-oriented co-operation and attract Korean investment. He will inform the Korean leadership of Pakistan's post-9/11 political diplomacy, including its stance on North Korean nuclear imbroglio. (Business Recorder)
Board of Investment (BoI) Chairman Waseem Haqqie has said that a proactive multi-pronged strategy is very much in place now to achieve the $27 billion foreign direct investment (FDI) target in the next five years. Haqqie talked about the strategy, that is basically a new concept, that the government should play a role of facilitator and leave the job of doing business to the private sector. He said as part of the strategy the government would be opening up new areas for investors, who have been given a loud and clear message by top leadership, that they would have an investment-friendly environment in Pakistan to get good return on their investment. The BoI chief said that President Pervez Musharraf and Prime Minister Shaukat Aziz were directly monitoring BoI's performance and taking several bold initiatives to make the investment process simple and to the satisfaction of investors. He said the President and PM were fully cognisant of the bottlenecks in investment and they were fully involved in making the process simpler and easier for the investors. (Business Recorder)
The government has granted an extension to Etisalat of the UAE till October 28, 2005 to complete the transaction of Pakistan Telecommunication Company Limited and take over the entity. The request for extension was made by an Etisalat delegation led by its chief executive officer at a closed-door meeting with Privatization and Investment Minister Dr Abdul Hafeez Sheikh held on September 26. The request was formally accepted by Prime Minister Shaukat Aziz in view of difficulties being faced by Etisalat in completing the financial requirements owing to re-composition of its board of directors and some other post-privatization conditionalities, a senior official at the Privatization Commission told. (Dawn)
The Privatisation Commission is in a bid to arrange bidding of Pakistan Petroleum Limited (PPL) in November this year. The commission has recently prequalified six parties, out of 11, who had submitted expressions of interest for the strategic purchase of 51 per cent shares of the PPL. (The Nation)
Thailand based CP Group has shown interest to invest in poultry and fishing sectors in Pakistan. Official said that CP Group, which has recently visited Pakistan on the special invitation of the Prime Minister Shaukat Aziz, is interested to invest in poultry and shrimp. According to the official, a delegation of the CP Group, which is one of the biggest company in South East Asia, visited the four provinces to look into the agriculture and livestock sector for investment. (The Nation)
The leader of a five-member Ugandan business delegation, Patrick Muduku Makwetta, has called upon Pakistani businessmen to do direct trading with Uganda instead of routing it through Kenyan businessmen. The call was made during a meeting of the Ugandan businessman with President Federation of Pakistan Chambers of Commerce and Industry (FPCCI) at the Federation House. (The News)
With a vastly improved and stable investment climate, a number of foreign investors, especially from Saudi Arabia and the Gulf are now exploring ventures in Pakistan, Arif Habib of Arif Habib Securities Limited told a select gathering of Pakistani professionals. Already the Al-Tuwairki Group of Dammam is proceeding ahead with the setting up of a steel plant in Karachi at a cost of $250 million. They are also seeking investments in other sectors of industry and real estate development in various places in Pakistan. The local Al-Tamimi Group is also proceeding ahead with a $250 million real estate development project in Islamabad. (Dawn)
Pakistan has jumped up by eight places to 83rd position in global competitiveness during 2005, however, strengthening of public institutions was still a barrier in boosting the mood of the business community, a report said. (Business Recorder)
South Korean companies have sought allotment of exclusive industrial corridors at Pakistan’s Export Processing Zones with special package to attract maximum Korean investment in the country. Business communities from Pakistan and Korea should be granted five-year multiple visa on the recommendation of national chambers of commerce and industry from both sides. This was recommended by 8th joint meeting of Pakistan-Korea Economic Cooperation Committee hosted by FPCCI. (Dawn)
The country’s telecom sector is expected to attract another $700 million from both local and international companies planning to lay fibre optic backbone across the country, previously monopolised by the Pakistan Telecommunication Company. A senior telecom ministry official said half a dozen cellular and other telecom companies had submitted their plans to the ministry and a few of them had got a nod, which had already launched projects. (Daily Times)
Pakistan Intern-ational Airlines (PIA) would start a new cargo flight for carpet exports to the US from October 5. Shahid Latif, the head of PIA’s cargo department, talking to carpet exporters in Lahore, said PIA had started a new cargo flight and the number of cargo flights had been increased to five. (Daily Times)
DHL, the world’s leading express and logistics company, has announced that it will invest up to US $8 million in Pakistan in the next three years, including the construction of new state-of-the-art Airside Express Logistic Centres in Karachi and Lahore and upgrading all its facilities. This latest investment is a reaffirmation of DHL’s commitment to partnering with Pakistan and the country’s business community. (Daily Times)
Pakistan will push forward the early implementation of the ECO transit transport framework agreement and the agreement on promotion and protection of investment at the 15th annual meeting of the Economic Co-operation Organisation (ECO) Council of Ministers, starting from October 1 at Astana, Kazakhstan. (Business Recorder)
The Asian Development Bank (ADB) has suggested that innovative financing approaches be adopted to finance the urban infrastructure of Karachi as the old methods for financing urban infrastructure of the city through International Financial Institutions (IFI) and government funds have not worked. (Business Recorder)
United States will be providing more than 1.5 billion dollars for development projects in social sector in Pakistan during the next five years through USAID, said US National Security Advisor Stephen Hadley. (Business Recorder)
The Frontier Mine Owners Association (FMOA) has decided to boost existing mineral infrastructure and to develop new mineral potential areas in the province. (Business Recorder)
A group of a British bankers and investors led by Khalid Mehmood, Member of British Parliament, called on the Minister of State for Railways Ishaq Khan Khakwani and acting Chairman Javed Akhtar Sheikh, at the Ministry of Railways, Islamabad. (Business Recorder)
China will assist Pakistan in upgrading the Kara Korum Highway (KKH), the greatest symbol of Sino-Pak friendship. The on-going negotiation to this effect between the two countries will be completed soon, this was decided during the meeting held between Chinese vice minister for communication Feng Zhenglin and the Parliamentary Secretary for Communication Dr Abdul Kadir Khanzada. (Business Recorder)
24-09-2005
President Pervez Musharraf has commended the measures taken by the government in the last six years to materialise an investor-friendly climate, and stressed upon the need to remove the remaining bottlenecks for imparting a new vigour to the economy and averting any new losses to the exchequer due to cumbersome procedures. The President made these observations following presentations on simplified procedure for facilitating both public and private investment on fast track basis, with a view to speeding up development and also bolstering foreign investment in the next five years. Federal Minister for Investment Dr Abdul Hafeez Sheikh, Minister of State for Investment Umar Ghumman, Deputy Chairman Planning Commission Dr Akram Sheikh and Chairman Board of Investment Waseem Haqqi attended the presentations. The Govt. has identified seven sectors, including power generation, natural gas, hotels, water, housing, infrastructure and liquefied natural gas, as major areas of foreign investment. (Business Recorder)
The draft report
on “CHALLENGES OF WTO & STRATEGY” will be presented before the full Senate’s
Special Committee (SSC) on WTO meeting during the first week of October 2005. It
was decided in a meeting of the Draft Committee of SSC for finalisation of the
said report, which was held under its Chairman Federal Minister for
Privatisation & Investment Dr. Abdul Hafeez Shaikh. (
Minister for
Commerce Humayun Akhtar Khan said
The seven-member
Saarc countries will sign the limited multilateral agreement on avoidance of
double taxation (LMAADT) in the upcoming summit to be held in
Reducing logistical, institutional and regulatory barriers to trade will have much greater impact on Asian growth than tariff reduction, says an Asian Development Bank study. The new ADB study on “Asia’s Long-term Growth and Integration: Reaching beyond Trade Policy Barriers” is part of the Policy Brief Series of ADB’s Economics and Research Department, designed to provide concise non-technical accounts of policy issues. (Dawn)
Foreign IT
companies have strongly reacted against the directive of telecom watchdog to
Internet Service Providers (ISPs) operating across
The recent decision of the federal cabinet to allow the use of Liquefied Petroleum Gas (LPG) as fuel in vehicles has prompted the Oil and Gas Development Company (OGDCL) to invite the private sector to set up LPG plants near its fields. The OGDCL will be inviting tenders from firms to bid for installing the LPG plants downstream of Qadirpur, Dhodhak, Dakhni, Loti, Pirkoh, Hundi/Sari, Missa Keswal and Sadqal fields on Build, Own and Operate (BOO) basis. (The News)
Chairman Export
Promotion Bureau (EPB) Tariq Ikram has said that 85 percent exports increased
during the last six months. He said that country’s exports, which were 900
million dollars in 1988-89, have now reached to 14.5 billion dollars in 2005. He
stressed the need of training commercial attaches in embassies to help boost
country’s exports. Tariq Ikram said EPB intends to hold more exhibitions abroad.
He added that industrial exhibition in
Chairman Lahore
Trade and Tariff Committee has said that permission of
Nexus Automotive
announced that it would begin locally assembling Chevrolet 1000 cc products in
Commerce
Minister Humayun Akhtar said that diesel and many other items were on mutual
trade list with
Malaysian
investors have expressed keen interest to invest in energy, tourism, food and
beverage, and other sectors in
The Japanese government has started a new scheme called the "JICA Partnership Programme (JPP)" to jointly work with the civil society organisations in Pakistan. It is learnt that under the scheme Japan International Co-operation Agency in collaboration with the Japanese local government and non-governmental organisations would expedite programmes in Pakistan. (Business Recorder)
A Pak-China joint industrial project for manufacturing plastic goods will start functioning by the end of this year. The project is being set up in Lahore with the initial cost of $20 million. Meanwhile, the two sides have also decided to establish a packaging industry in Pakistan this year. (Business Recorder)
United Nations Industrial Development Organisation (Unido), Pakistan Institute of Development Economics (PIDE) and the Federation of Pakistan Chambers of Commerce and Industry (FPCCI) recently carried out a survey on 'Barriers to Trade' to assess and identify the nature of Trade Barriers faced by Pakistani producers and exporters in accessing markets. The survey covered all major industrial sectors of the country. (Business Recorder)
23-09-2005
Foreign direct investment (FDI) in Pakistan in the first two months (July-August) of the fiscal year 2005-06 amounted to $225 million, up by over 108 per cent against $108 million of the same period last year. Board of Investment (BoI) Chairman Wasim Haqqie told that the FDI in August stood at $106 million compared with $55.8 million in the same month last year, showing an increase of about 90 per cent. Detailed data would be released in a couple of days. He said Pakistan had attracted $1.524 million FDI during the fiscal year 2004-05, which was 61 per cent higher than the corresponding period of 2003-04. This also included $363 million FDI as privatization proceeds of 10 per cent first tranche of PTCL and $103 million second tranche of Habib Bank’s privatization. (Dawn)
The consistency and continuity in Pakistan’s economic policies have generated confidence among foreign investors, and a number of Malaysian companies were keenly interested in investing in Pakistan, which has emerged as a promising market. This was stated by the head of visiting Malaysian investors’ delegation Tan Sri Abd Rahim Mohammad, Executive Chairman, Eden Enterprise, during a meeting with Dr Abdul Hafeez Shaikh, Federal Minister for Privatization & Investment. (Dawn)
Prime Minister Shaukat Aziz will inaugurate the Margalla dry port today. The dry port would have the capacity of 150 containers. Goods could be transported from here to Karachi and from Karachi to Islamabad within 36 hours. (Business Recorder)
The Privatisation Commission (PC) is likely to earn Rs 1.23 billion from the sale of 259 kanals, 19 marlas of Peco land located in Badami Bagh works land Lahore. (Business Recorder)
Prime Minister Shaukat Aziz said the government was committed to the development of Northern Areas (NAs) and providing basic facilities under the Khushal Pakistan Programme. (Business Recorder)
The government has decided to launch a $100 million new overseas investment fund to attract overseas Pakistanis investment in the country. State Bank and the Board of Investment (BoI) had been asked to identify major areas of investment for expatriates with the help of the private sector. (Dawn)
The government has allowed textile and leather exporters to claim input tax on materials imported or purchased for exports goods to be shipped by September 30, 2005. However, these materials should be in the stocks shown as purchased or acquired up to June 5, 2005. After that date, the GST has been zero-rated and refunds-rebates abolished on materials acquired for exports of these industries. (The News)
Visiting Vice President of Japan International Cooperation Agency (JICA), Ueda Yoshihisa expressed the hope that the technological assistance being provided by Japan would help accelerate the development of Pakistan economy, especially the industrial sector. (The News)
The government has devised a strategy to attract more investors from the Middle East and the South East Asia and decided to hold a series of conferences in the regions to meet the FDI target of $3 billion for 2005-06, a senior government official told. After being directed by the president and the prime minister, the Ministry of Privatisation and Investment has decided to concentrate more on Pakistan’s investment potential in the two regions, the official said. (Daily Times)
Minister for Water and Power, Liaquat Ali Jatoi informed the National Assembly that seven sites have been identified for hydel power generation.The government is focusing to generate more energy through hydel generation which is the cheapest way as compared to other sources. He said private sector has been involved first time in the process as seven Letters of Interests (LOI) have been issued to potential parties in this regard.“We are considering actively to construct big water reservoirs as well as small dams in different parts of the country to meet the growing energy requirements and overcome water shortage.” (Pakistan Observer)
The UN sources says that the latest World Investment Report sponsored by the UN Conference on Trade and Development (Unctad) has been finalised and will be released at the end of next week. (Business Recorder)
Etihad Airways, the national airline of the United Arab Emirates (UAE), has formally inaugurated its new office in Karachi with a hope of expansion its quota for the lifting of passengers from Pakistan. Consul General of UAE Mohammad Abdullah Amir Al Falasi was the chief guest on the occasion while Consul General of Qatar Ahmed Bin Sultan Al-Aseeri, Consul General of Oman Naseer Saif Salim Al-Hosni and Consul General of Saudi Arabia Dr Hassan A Attar also attended the programme. (The News)
Swiss Agency for Development and Co-operation (SDC) has been actively extending its support to the micro and small enterprises (MSE) sector in Pakistan. SDC has supported the leasing sector in Pakistan in creating a niche in the MSE sector. (Business Recorder)
22-09-2005
Deliberations are
under way to finalize an agreement between
The federal government approved 16 independent power projects (IPPs) of a total capacity of 3,700-mw with an estimated investment of about $4 billion. The decision to this effect was taken at the board meeting of Private Power and Infrastructure Board (PPIB) presided over by minister for Water and Power Liaqat Ali Jatoi. (Dawn)
Pakistan and Algeria finalized a string of measures at the conclusion of a two-day Joint Ministerial Commission (JMC) for increasing cooperation in various fields and enhancing bilateral trade. Petroleum and Natural Resources Minister Amanullah Khan Jadoon and Algerian Minister for Small and Medium Enterprises and Handicrafts Mustafa Benbada headed the delegation of their respective countries at the JMC. (Dawn)
The Government of Pakistan granted two Petroleum Exploration Licences over Block No 2467-8 (Thatta) and Block No 2870-2 (Bagh-o-Bahar) in Zone-III, covering an area of 2438.85sq kms and 2499.13sq kms to Oil and Gas Development Company Limited (OGDCL). Thatta Block fell in district Thatta of Sindh and Bagh-o-Bahar block in districts Rahim Yar Khan and Bahawalpur of Punjab. (Dawn)
China will enhance its collaboration with Pakistan in development of textile, hydropower, automobile, petroleum and construction sectors, said Governor Punjab Khalid Maqbool. He said he had received very positive indications from Chinese business circles for bringing more investment in Pakistan. Referring to his meetings held last week with the Chinese cities’ leaders and entrepreneurs in Shanghai, Wuxi and Suzhou, he said they showed willingness to undertake more joint ventures in Pakistan. (Dawn)
A premier business convention, which is expected to bring to the Kingdom hundreds of top Muslim businessmen from across the world, will be held on October 2 and 3, 2005. Ministers and dignitaries from various Muslim countries will talk on relevant topics during the above-mentioned plenary sessions. They include well-known personalities such as Prime Minister of Lebanon, Trade and Industry Minister of Saudi Arabia, Investment and Privatization Minister of Pakistan, Trade Minister for Foreign Trade of Turkey, to name a few. (The News)
US Ambassador Ryan C. Crocker and Khalid Saeed, Secretary, Economic Affairs Division, Ministry of Economic Affairs and Statistics signed an agreement under the US government’s Food for Progress Grant Program to provide 10 million dollars worth of US soybeans to Pakistan. The objective of the Food for Progress program is to enhance world food security by encouraging improvements in agricultural productivity and economic development, said a statement issued by the US Embassy. (Daily Times)
Hasib Rehman, a Pakistani settled in Japan called on Prime Minister Shaukat Aziz at the Prime Minister House and informed him that he is setting up a steel plant at the total cost of US$ 100 million which includes Japanese equity. The investment is being made in response to the recent visit by the Prime Minister to Japan where he met various investors and leaders of trade and industry to attract investment into Pakistan. (Daily Times)
Pakistan has urged Turkey for establishment of storage, processing and preservation facilities in the field of horticulture. Federal Minister for Food, Agriculture and Livestock Sikandar Hayat Khan Bosan conveyed this to the Turkish Ambassador, Kemal Gur, who called on him. The minister, however, rejected the offer of Turkish government to export tractors to Pakistan. The minister pointed out although the quality of Turkish tractors is good but due to higher prices the poor small farmers in Pakistan can not purchase the tractors manufactured by the Turkish firms. (Daily Times)
Second International Conference & Exhibition CNG Conex 2005 will be held today (September 21-22) at Pearl Continental Hotel with the objective to promote CNG as an alternative and environment friendly fuel in the Country and promotion of locally manufactured CNG equipments.The Conference will be inaugurated by Secretary Ministry of Petroleum, Ahmad Waqar while Federal Minister of State for Petroleum Mir Naseer Mengal will be Chief Guest at the concluding session. (Pakistan Observer)
21-09-2005
Algeria expressed its desire to benefit from
The sixth ITCN Asia Exhibition and Conference would be held
in August next year at the Karachi Expo Centre. This was announced in a
statement of the E-commerce Gateway. It said that ITCN Asia, the icon for the
potential IT and telecom industry of
China hopes that its Western region (Xinjiang) will emerge
as hub of Sino-Pak business activities, with the implementation of special
tariff package, to be implemented from January, 2006, said Zhang Yei, a senior
official of the region’s Foreign Trade and Economic Co-operation Department. The
economic activities between the two countries stepped up, when they held first
round of talks for Free Trade Agreement (FTA) at
The government is estimating over Rs 1 billion contribution from the telecom companies under universal services fund this fiscal in line with its policy for the sector’s development in rural areas. A top official said the figures had yet to be finalised, but it would not be less than Rs 1 billion as telecom operators would pay an USF charge limited to 1.5 percent of gross their revenues. (Daily Times)
Through international rate hedging the govt. is trying to minimize the risk for Islamic Bonds (Sukuk) which is currently based on floating rate of London Inter Bank Offer Rate (LIBOR. “We are trying to move to a fix rate and in this connection several international and domestic banks are making presentations in the Finance Ministry”, Dr.Ashfaque Hasan Advisor to the Ministry told. (Daily Times)
19-09-2005
The Federal Government will soon announce a comprehensive incentives package to attract investment in Gwadar with particular focus on fisheries, refinery, packaging, etc. This was stated by Prime Minister Shaukat Aziz in a meeting with the industrialists. He urged the industrialists to give their inputs so that the package could be prepared in consultation with them. (Dawn)
Pakistan and Algeria will look into means of enhancing bilateral trade and co-operation in various spheres when the officials from the two countries sit across the table at a two-day first meeting of Joint Ministerial Commission (JMC). (Business Recorder)
Acting President and Chairman Senate Mohammadmian Soomro met with a six-member delegation of Ivory Coast led by Dr Diaby Moustopha and discussed matters pertaining to mutual interests of both the countries. (Business Recorder)
Federal Trade Minister Humayun Akhtar Khan will address a meeting of the Federation of Indian Chambers of Commerce and Industry in New Delhi. (Business Recorder)
President General Pervez Musharraf will inaugurate the first underpass project in the province at Schon Circle, Karachi on October 1. This was stated by the Minister for Ports and Shipping Babar Ghauri while visiting various development project sites initiated by the Karachi Port Trust under Tameer Karachi Package to review the progress. (Business Recorder)
The USAID Mission Director Lisa Chiles emphasised the need of skills training for the industrial workers in Pakistan. Addressing a certificate and employment letter distribution ceremony at the Sun Development Foundation (SDF), Lisa said that USAID would provide over $1.5 billion to Pakistan under USAID Programme in the next five years. (The News)
Business communities of Pakistan and India expressed their desire for closer cooperation to strengthen economic and trade relations between the two neighbouring countries. They also stressed on accelerating the pace of economic activities in the region. There were many areas where the two countries could cooperate and get benefit by sharing their expertise. (The News)
The Norwegian Ambassador, Jens Bjorn Kanavin, has said that there is a need to make more concerted and sector-specific efforts to enhance economic cooperation between the two countries and the chambers of commerce could do a lot in this regard. The Norway Ambassador was talking to LCCI President Mian Misbahur Rehman at LCCI. (Pakistan Observer)
17-09-2005
Prime Minister Shaukat Aziz said the construction and real-estate sectors in Pakistan were witnessing accelerated growth and there was a lot of scope for the construction machinery in the country. (Business Recorder)
The Deputy Prime Minister (DPM) of Canada Ms Anne Mc-Lellan called on the Acting President Mohammedmian Soomro in the Parliament House and discussed various aspects of Pakistan-Canada relations. During discussions the focus remained on a number of bilateral issues including empowerment of women and investment opportunities in Pakistan. (Business Recorder)
Pakistan and the Russian gas giant — Gazprom — has decided to start active cooperation in the field of oil and gas for which a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) is expected to be signed on October 9 in Islamabad, says a senior government official. Secretary, Petroleum, Ahmad Waqar told that Russian firm would be responsible for providing expertise, training and the construction of the storage facilities. “Prime Minister Shaukat Aziz will witness the signing ceremony,” he said. (Dawn)
The Privatisation Commission has provided Rs 240.412 billion, from the proceeds of 26 public sector units privatised since November 2002 till to-date, to the finance ministry. (Business Recorder)
Punjab Chief Minister Chaudhry Pervaiz Elahi has said the largest industrial estate of the country is being set up in Faisalabad, stretching over an area of 4000 acres. (Business Recorder)
Prime Minister Shaukat Aziz will have a busy schedule when he arrives today on a daylong visit. He will launch various development schemes and announce package for development of Gwadar city as well as incentive package for investors in Gwadar duty free zone. (Business Recorder)
Prime Minister Shaukat Aziz will be briefed of the reasons for the painfully slow progress, in last three years, on the Textile City project near Port Qasim, by the management team. “There is no development at all,” a leader of textile industry remarked who recalled that “textile investors were promised developed plots of land in Textile City by June 2004.” He pointed out that these plots had not been offered for allotment even in June 2005, and it was doubtful if these would be given in June 2006. (Dawn)
Pakistan and India should remove trade barriers and complement each other to tap bilateral trade potential of more than three billion dollars through direct trade for benefit of both the peoples. Presently, bilateral trade between the two neighbouring countries stood at $600 million while the estimated informal trade volume in 2004-05 figured $2 billion which involved goods like chemicals, industrial machinery, cement, tyres, tea, medicine, video tapes, cosmetics and viscose fibre. These goods found their way through third markets such as Dubai and Singapore. (Dawn)
The USAID has launched the Pakistan Initiative for Strategic Development and Competitiveness Fund that has generated a set of recommendations for promoting dairy, marble and granite and gems and jewellery. Under this project, strategic working groups (SWOGs) of each of the three targeted industries- dairy, marble and granite and gems and jewellery have been formed. (Dawn)
US Ambassador Ryan C Crocker pledged continued US assistance to build on and expand the highly successful public-private partnerships as an essential component of its overall $1.5 billion assistance package to Pakistan. This amount is to be spent in five years whereas the total assistance for other than gem and jewellery; marble and granite; dairy development, is double of this amount, he said. (The News)
The Rupali Bank, which is substantially owned by the Bangladesh government, and Pakistan’s Arif Habib group signed a formal agreement to set up a joint venture bank in Pakistan, a press release of the group said. To be called Arif Habib Rupali Bank Limited, the joint venture bank will take over Rupali Bank’s Pakistan operation. Rupali Bank with over 600 branches in Bangladesh, is listed on the Dhaka Stock Exchange. It is being prepared for privatisation and will be the first Bangladeshi bank to be privatised. (The News)
The Pakistan Telecommunication Company Limited (PTCL) is prepared to instal 2.3 million Wireless Loop Line (WLL) in a short period of time. This was stated by Chairman of PTCL, Zaffar A. Khan. He further pointed out that the PTCL has acquired the WLL licence. The PTCL chief informed that his organisation will increase the fixed line connectivity and will try and improve the service. (The Nation)
The exports from Pakistan to Afghanistan in the first two months – July-August period – of the current fiscal 2005-06 stood at Rs.11.5 billion as compared to two months exports of Rs.8.3 in the last fiscal 2004-05, indicating an increase of Rs.3.2 billion. Some 20,673 trucks carrying exports goods of Rs.8.439 billion routed through Torkham and 10758 trucks carrying exportable goods valuing Rs.3.111 billion entered Afghanistan through the Chamman trade route during the said period. (Daily Times)
The Islamabad Chamber of Commerce and Industry (ICCI) and the Pakistan Canada Business Forum have signed a memorandum of understanding (MoU) with an aim to enhance liaison and cooperation between the two organizations in the field of mutual trade, investment and technology. ICCI president, Tariq Sadiq, said that it was a step in the right direction and the forum should sign such agreements with other trade organizations. (Daily Times)
The Telecom Engineering 2005, an exhibition of telecom equipment manufacturers being held in Islamabad on September 26 and 27, will focus on supporting the expansion of the local telecommunication industry. Mohammad Shamim, Chairman, Pakistan Telecom Manufacturers Association (PTMA). disclosed this. The exhibition is a joint collaboration between the EDB and the PTMA. (Pakistan Observer)
16-09-2005
The Privatization Commission got highest bid of Rs3.205 billion for 85.5 per cent shares of Mustehkum Cement Limited at a rate of Rs305 per share from Bestway Cement of Sir Anwar Pervez but failed to attract a reasonable offer for the Bolan Textile Mill’s scrap. Privatization Minister Dr Abdul Hafeez Sheikh said after the meeting that the Privatization Commission would recommend to the cabinet committee on privatization to accept the Bestway Cement’s bid for Mustekhum Cement as it was above the minimum acceptable price set by the commission. (Dawn)
Turkish Prime Minister Recip Tayyip Erdogan called on President Pervez Musharraf at the UN headquarters and reviewed bilateral, regional and international relations. The two leaders decided to further strengthen co-operation in economic and trade fields. The present volume of trade relations is around $300 million and it was agreed during the meeting to encourage private sector to take this level of trade to $1 billion. (Business Recorder)
Stressing the need for an effective mechanism to oversee execution of development agenda of the Economic and Social Council, President Pervez Musharraf offered to hold a meeting of the stakeholders in Pakistan to reduce poverty and effect visible improvement in the lives of people. (Business Recorder)
Nearly three and a half months after the privatization of National Refinery Limited (NRL), the Privatization Commission has finally released the proceeds of sale to stakeholders in the refinery. The Chairman, NIT could not be reached to enquire if the Fund was in receipt of the sum of its share in the privatization proceeds of NRL. (Dawn)
Israel is keen to import Pakistani textile items, mainly finished fabrics, for manufacturing made-ups and garment. Israel wants to import Pakistani finished fabrics, relatively cheaper than other countries, for using in the manufacturing of textile products at the Israel-Jordan Qualified Industrial Zone (QIZ). (Dawn)
Banks and development finance institutions or DFIs made more than Rs90 billion investment in treasury bills during April-June 2005, the last quarter of the outgoing fiscal year, as the yields on the bills moved up. The State Bank, in its fight against inflation, raised the weighted average yields on all the three tenures of T-bills during April-June 2005, attracting more investment in the bills by the banking system, data released by the SBP show. Total investment of banks and DFIs into T-bills rose to Rs421.7 billion at end-June from Rs331.6 billion at end-March this year, showing an expansion of Rs90.1 billion. (Dawn)
The newly-elected Director General of World Trade Organization (WTO), Pascal Lamy, would likely to visit Pakistan before the Hong Kong Ministerial Conference to be held in December. Talking to Commerce Minister Humayun Akhtar on telephone from Geneva to seek his assessment of the discussions at the recently concluded G-20 meeting at Bhurban, the WTO DG said that visit to Pakistan was his priority and he would like to come before the Hong Kong moot. (Dawn)
Doing business in India is much tougher than in Pakistan, China, Sri Lanka and Nepal and the country is positioned way down at 116th in the Ease of Doing Business Ranking of 155 countries surveyed by World Bank and International Finance Corporation (IFC), reports Asia Pulse. Pakistan is ranked at 60th, Bangladesh at 65th, Sri Lanka at 75th and China at 91st in the list. (Dawn)
Inaugurating the capacity enhancement facility at the Indus Motor Company (IMC), the Minister for Industries and Production Jehangir Khan Tareen said that the auto industry was all set to achieve a production of 200,000 units this year, showing an increase of 400 per cent if compared with 50,000 units four years ago. (Dawn)
Minister of State for Finance, Omar Ayub Khan has said Pakistan is a correct place for investment with vast opportunities in various sectors including infrastructure and hydel power projects. "Government is committed to giving a level-playing field and hassle-free environment for investment to both domestic and foreign investors," he said addressing the last session of the two-day Pakistan Infrastructure Projects Conference 2005. (The News)
A Lahore-based trading company has entered into an agreement for the import of steel billets from Tajikistan through the difficult route of Afghanistan. "We will use Heratan-Kabul-Peshawar route which ensures delivery of goods within 72 hours from Tajikistan to Peshawar," said Khawaja Arsalan, Director of Pak-CIS Joint Venture (PCJV), the local party of the agreement. (The News)
Sun Chun Ye, Consul General of Peoples Republic of China and Chaudhry Muhammad Saeed, President, Federation of Pakistan Chambers of Commerce and Industry (FPCCI) have agreed to have regular and frequent interaction so that the bilateral trade and joint ventures could be promoted. This was agreed when Sun Chun Ye held a dinner meeting with the president and members, managing committee of FPCCI the other day at Economic and Commercial Office of Consulate General of China in Karachi. (The News)
A four-member delegation of Japanese technology experts led by Dr. Koichi Shimokawa visited Technology Up-Gradation and Skill Development Company (TUSDEC) head office. Other members of the Japanese team were-Prof Hiroshi Ito, a metal sheet technology expert and Minoru Ohira and Shinichiro Ashizawa of Japan External Trade Organization (JETRO). (The News)
A three-member World Bank (WB) team headed by John Wall, Country Director, discussed WB lending programme for the year 2006 with Dr Salman Shah, Adviser to Prime Minister on Finance, Revenue, and Minister of State on Economic Affairs Hina Rabbani Khar in the Ministry of Finance. (The News)
Warid Telecom is planning to expand its services over 400 cities during 2006 by investing over $1 billion by end 2006 said, GM Marketing and Sales Naveed.Saeed. He said that aggressive expansion was being planned to roll-out mobile telephony services to 121 cities all over Pakistan and the process of franchise selection of these additional 93 cities is in its final stages. (The Nation)
Abdo Muham-mad Heggi, ambassador of Eritrea, called on the president of the Islamabad Chamber of Commerce and Industry (ICCI) Tariq Sadiq. He stated that Eritrea wanted direct trade relations with Pakistan because presently Pakistan was trading via Dubai, which cost more. (Daily Times)
The first ever "Pakistan specific week show" would be held from September 25 to 29 in Jeddah, Saudia Arabia. Pakistan trade mission in Jeddah is holding the specific week in collaboration with the Export Promotion Bureau (EPB) and Jeddah Chamber of Commerce and Industry. (Business Recorder)
The state engineering companies have shown remarkable improvement as their overall sale during 2004-05 increased to Rs 3.6 billion (52.4 percent) as compared to Rs 2.4 billion of 2003-04. (Business Recorder)
15-09-2005
The Privatization Commission received the highest bid of Rs4.315 billion from Haji Usman and Group to take over 96.34 per cent shares of Javedan Cement Limited (JCL) at the rate of Rs80 per share. The highest bid could, however, just meet minimum floor price of Rs80 per share fixed by the Privatization Commission. The bid came when the Privatization Minister Dr Abdul Hafeez Sheikh announced that the government could not consider an offer lower than the floor price. (Dawn)
The Privatization Commission is holding a bidding for divesting 85.29 per cent shares of Mustehkam Cement Limited and for the sale of the machinery of Bolan Textile Mills. Mustehkam Cement was a public limited company listed on the stock exchange and commenced its production in 1966 while its new unit went operational in 1981. (Dawn)
The Privatisation Commission (PC) has invited Expressions of Interest (EoI) from qualified strategic investors for acquiring 51 to 74 per cent equity stake in Pakistan Steel Mills Corporation (Pvt) Ltd, together with management control, on ‘as is where is’ basis by October 8. According to the PC, a consortium led by Citigroup Global Markets Limited is advising the Commission on the sale. (The News)
The ministerial meeting in Hong Kong, in December 2005 provides a last chance to 148 WTO-member countries to restore confidence in the Doha Development Round (DDA) started in 2001, says a UN report. “That meeting needs to deliver tangible and practical results. These results should include a down payment on the development round in three specific areas: market access, agricultural support and special and differential treatment for developing countries,”. (Dawn)
Arif Habib Investments says it has proposed to launch a Shariah-compliant fund, adding that it is the first mutual fund which, once cleared by the regulators, would make overseas investment. The proposed Pakistan International Element Islamic Fund (PIEIF) is waiting for final approval from the Securities and Exchange Commission of Pakistan (SECP) for its launching. (Dawn)
The Japan-Pakistan bilateral trade is low and below potential. This was stated by Japanese Ambassador to Pakistan Nobuaki Tanaka at the Japanese Consulate. The envoy was of the view that Pakistan was in deficit viz-a-viz Japan in the bilateral trade. (Dawn)
Warid Telecom would invest around $ 400 million in 2nd and 3rd phase to add around 100 cities to its network by December this year with an additional connection capacity of 1.8 million. Chief executive officer of Warid Telecom, Hamid Farooq said Wireless Local Loop (WLL) service should not be used as a back door entry to cellular industry. “We believe PTA would require stringent monitoring to enforce this differentiation, as violation of limited mobility will give very negative signals to the foreign investors.” (Daily Times)
12-09-2005
Pakistan and Brazil have agreed to give further impetus to promoting greater interaction and cooperation in the political, commercial, economic and defence fields.The Foreign Minister of Brazil Celso Amorim who visited Pakistan from Sept 9 to 11 and led the Brazilian delegation to the G-20 Ministerial Meeting.During his talks with his Pakistani counterpart Khurshid M Kasuri he also discussed regional and international situation.He also called on Prime Minster Shaukat Aziz and conveyed greetings and good wishes of President Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva, and also delivered a special letter from the President of Brazil.Prime Minister Shaukat Aziz expressed satisfaction over the excellent bilateral relations between the two countries, especially in the economic and commercial fields. (Pakistan Observer)
The World Bank has launched the Pakistan Development Marketplace 2006 entitled Mazoori Majboori Nahin (disability does not mean helplessness) aims to give impetus to Government of Pakistan and civil society efforts to mainstream persons with disabilities in national development as a competition of innovative proposals to reduce poverty. Since 1998, the World Bank’s global Development Marketplace program has awarded US$40 million to more than 1,000 groundbreaking projects in over 70 countries. (Pakistan Observer)
If one plots the growth of telecommunications technology in Pakistan on a graph, one would see a virtually horizontal line for the most part with a sharp rise near the present. The increase is the result of an almost overnight transformation where the long-familiar black telephones with scratchy voice quality are being replaced by mobile as well as state of the art Wireless Local Loop or WLL phones.The potential of the telecom technology is enabling to quickly coming up to par with the rest of the modern world. (Pakistan Observer)
Israel decided to allow its citizens to import goods from Pakistan for the first time after foreign ministers of the two countries, signalling a diplomatic breakthrough, held a meeting at Istanbul in Turkey earlier this month. (Business Recorder)
Pakistan and India held talks to open new land routes following on increasing trade activity at Wagah border. According to Radio Tehran, holding talks between two countries was aimed at boosting bilateral trade. India's Commerce Minister said that India could provide better trade opportunities for Pakistan than any other countries. (Business Recorder)
The Foreign Office is preparing a list of trade-oriented persons for appointment as honorary consuls-general in several countries that have potential of absorbing more exports from Pakistan. (Business Recorder)
Asian Development Bank (ADB) will provide $10 million to Sindh government during the current year as technical assistance for the development of mega city in Karachi. This was stated by the senior development officer of ADB Ms Gulfer during a meeting with senior Sindh Minister for Finance Syed Sardar Ahmed. (Business Recorder)
09-09-2005
Trade with Israel and India could be conducted under the relevant government policies, stated the Minister for Privatisation and Investment, Abdul Hafeez Shaikh while addressing the Karachi Chamber of Commerce and Industry (KCCI). The minister said that trade relations with India would be established under the South Asia Free Trade Agreement (SAFTA). (The News)
Federal Minister for IT and Telecommunication, Awais Ahmad Khan Leghari said the government would table the proposed Universal Service Fund (USF) bill in the parliament within couple of weeks, a communication received from the ministry said. He said this while addressing a two-day 2nd South Asia Mobiles Summit-2005 organized by Asia Pacific Telecommunications Network in collaboration with Ufone, Mobilink and Huawei Technologies at Islamabad. (The News)
Emirates Investments Group, an Islamic commercial bank, has announced that it will float shares worth Rs1 billion in the Pakistani market at the beginning of next year. Chief Executive Officer of the bank, Syed Tariq Husain said the paid-up capital of the bank, granted licence by the State Bank recently for opening its branches in Pakistan, would be Rs2 billion. (The News)
The Group of 20 trade ministers arrived as the two-day crucial discussions among the trade ministers begin today. The discussions would, inter alia, revolve around agriculture, which is central to the Doha Development Agenda (DDA). They would reaffirm their commitment to achieving the objective of full modalities for reducing farm trade distortions by the 6th WTO ministerial conference to be held in Hong Kong in December. (Dawn)
The Securities and Exchange Commission of Pakistan (SECP) registered 410 companies during August 2005, showing an inrease of 86 per cent compared to 220 companies registered the same month of last year. The statement said that of the total companies registered during the month, 402 were limited by shares comprising of 11 public unlisted companies, 377 private companies and 14 single member companies. (Dawn)
Sindh IT Minister Syed Mustafa Kamal said the concept of call centre for international business outsourcing was growing day by day and a neighbouring country was earning billions of dollars through it. He was addressing the first citation ceremony of its CSR batch certificate distribution ceremony to those who have successfully completed training of call centre agent at FTC auditorium. (The News)
Pakistan has decided to enter into international equity market to get its major state sector enterprises enlisted with American Depository Receipt (ADR) in New York and General Depository Receipt (GDR) in London and Lxuemburg.A number of international banks and financial institutions have expressed their willingness to introduce Pakistan in the international equity market. (Dawn)
Carpet exports shot up by 26 per cent to $254.6 million during the financial year 2004-05 from $208.9 million the previous year. Quoting export figures released by the State Bank, industry spokesman Naeem Tahir Sheikh said the “upward trend in the carpet exports indicated that the industry was recovering from the setback suffered after the 9/11 events.” (Dawn)
Trading Corporation of Pakistan (TCP) received offers from seven international companies for the supply of 50,000 tons of white sugar, a senior official said. The bids, received against a tender issued on August 28, ranged from $357.50 to $397 per ton C&F Karachi, said Manzar Salim, a general manager at the TCP. The lowest bidder was Dubai-based Dhanji International, which offered 25,000 tons of Chinese sugar at $357.50, while Swiss-based Tridania offered the highest price of $397. (Dawn)
India and Pakistan will establish trade links across the Line of Control (LoC) by month-end when first consignment will be moved via Kaman Briidge linking the two Kashmirs "If all goes well, first exchange of goods will take place between the two sides of Kashmir by month-end," an Indian official told. (Business Recorder)
The Asian Development Bank (ADB) forecast that Pakistan's gross domestic product (GDP) in fiscal year 2006 may slip down to 6.5 percent, reason being high oil prices. (Business Recorder)
Chairman Central Board of Revenue Abdullah Yousaf said CBR is striving for promotion of an investment friendly atmosphere in the country to attract domestic and foreign investors increase of 13 to 14 % is being registered in revenue collection every year, the Chairman said while addressing members of Chamber of Commerce and Industry. He said in the fiscal year 2004-05 macro-economic growth was increased by 8.4 % which is the highest in the region after China. (Pakistan Observer)
08-09-2005
The federal government has granted judicial powers to registrars of companies for taking action against the defaulting companies and has raised the minimum limit of paid-up capital to Rs5 million as requirement for appointment of legal advisers. A decision to this effect was taken by the federal cabinet last week by approving amendments in the Companies (Appointment of Legal Advisers) Act, 1974. The cabinet meeting was presided over by Prime Minister Shaukat Aziz. The amendments would become effective once approved by the Parliament. (Dawn)
India has given three specific proposals to invest about $1 billion in Pakistan in the fields of information technology, services sector and the marble industry, Board of Investment (BoI) has also been formally approached by the Indian burgeoning private sector to undertake joint ventures with its Pakistani counterpart in various fields. However, the Indian government and the Indian businessmen were informed to seek No Objection Certificate (NoC) from the foreign office and the interior ministry to make any investment in Pakistan. (Dawn)
Two more banks are launching very soon the insurance companies in a market where at least four such sets of banks-insurance nexus are already in operation signalling the emergence of business cartels in a new form. Bank Al Falah is in process of launching its insurance company while the Bank of Punjab has almost finalized the plans to enter life insurance business. In fact, the Bank of Punjab has already filed an application with the Securities and Exchange Commission of Pakistan. (Dawn)
Pakistan and Argentina identified areas for collaboration, which include gas pipeline, petroleum explorations and investment in the Gwadar Port development. This was one of the outcomes in the first meeting of the Joint Committee of Pakistan-Argentina. Pakistan commerce secretary and Argentina secretary of trade and economic affairs led their respective side. (Dawn)
The pre-takeover conferences between the government and Etisalat of the UAE that won the 26 per cent strategic stake in Pakistan Telecommunication Company Limited (PTCL), has almost reached completion, a senior PTCL official told. There was no iron clad deadline for takeover by Etisalat and if everything falls to place, the handing over-taking over could be even as early as September 16, said the official, when it was pointed out to him that the takeover date by Etisalat, mentioned by some quarters as Sept 18, falls on a Sunday. (Dawn)
President Habib Bank Limited, Zakir Mahmood, said that the HBL had earned after-tax profit of Rs3.3 billion during the first half of the current year (2005) which was double that of the corresponding period in the previous year. (The News)
Dubai Bank, a subsidiary of Emaar Properties of the UAE, plans to buy an 18.75 per cent stake in BankIslami Pakistan Ltd, a spokeswoman for the Pakistani bank said. BankIslami was granted a licence to operate as a fully fledged Islamic bank in March this year, and plans to open seven branches this year. It has authorised capital of Rs2.1 billion ($35 million). (The News)
The civil society and pro-poor groups have expressed the hope that the meeting of the ministers of G-20 countries would come up to the expectations of the people of developing and least developed countries (LDCs) in formulating their positions for the WTO Hong Kong Ministerial Conference in December. The ministers of G-20 member countries of the World Trade Organisation (WTO) are meeting in Bhurban, Pakistan on September 9-10, 2005 to prepare their strategy on agriculture for the WTO conference in Hong Kong. (The News)
The fast developing port city of Gawadar will have its first state of the art desalination plant with capacity of purifying 0.2 million gallons per day (MGD) water in next six months. Associated Builders, a part of Hashoo Group conglomerate inked an agreement with Pure Water Technologies for installing this Rs100 million project. (The News)
Pakistan has achieved phenomenal growth in information technology in the past three years. This was stated by Sindh Minister for Information Technology Syed Mustafa Kamal at a software conference. (The News)
The World Bank today approved a credit of US$84 million to assist the Government of Pakistan with the continued reforms of its public financial management system. The objective of the Second Improvement to Financial Reporting and Auditing Project is to improve the efficiency and effectiveness of public expenditure and increase the potential for economic growth and poverty reduction. (The Nation)
Adviser to Prime Minister on Finance Dr Salman Shah said new border areas could be opened to facilitate trade between India and Pakistan. “Ganda Singh Wala border at Kasur would be opened up besides a few other points to facilitate the traders,” he said, talking to journalists after visiting the animal quarantine at the Wagha border where the very first consignment of Indian goats is being kept for serological tests. (Daily Times)
The government has asked the United States’ Citigroup to avail investment opportunities in various sectors of Pakistan. In a meeting with Eli Hassine, managing director and global chief for Citigroup's export and agency finance, Dr Salman Shah Advisor to Prime Minister on finance extended the government’s support to the leading US investment group. (Daily Times)
Mian Shamim Haider, the federal minister for railways, has said that lack of fresh investment from public and private sectors for the past several years has left around 60 percent infrastructure of Railways (PR) outdated and it needs to be improved urgently. (Daily Times)
The Chief Executive of the Engineering Development Board (EDB) of Pakistan Imtiaz A. Rastgar stated that the Board has joined hands with the Pakistan Telecom Manufacturing Association to bring home yet another industrial extravaganza ‘Telecom Engineering 2005’ a two-day exhibition to be held on September 26-27 at Islamabad. (Pakistan Observer)
The fast growing network, voice quality and maximum coverage are the salient features of the service being provided by the Ufone. Ufone is working on an aggressive rollout plan of expansion to major cities, Babar Khan CEO Ufone told. These new cities particularly the rural areas are being included in the network and in the number of the subscribers is multiplying by leaps and bounds, said he in the briefing. (Pakistan Observer)
07-09-2005
Prime Minister Shaukat Aziz said the government was encouraging the gems and jewellery industry, as it had a huge potential of providing employment and increasing growth. Following a presentation made to him on gems and jewellery by the ministry of industries at the Prime Minister’s House, he said the USAID and Smeda were working together to help this industry find its true potential and added the government was extending all assistance to them. (Dawn)
The Privatisation Commission is all set to hold bidding for the sale of machinery of Bolan Textile Mills on September 15, 2005 in Islamabad. It is a project of Iran Pakistan Industries (Pvt) Ltd (IPI) situated at Baleli (near Quetta Airport), District Quetta, Baluchistan. The machinery of Bolan Textile Mills (Spinning, Weaving, Processing and Auxiliaries) is being offered on an “as is where is” basis through a competitive process. (The Nation)
Pakistan will host the first G-20 meeting to prepare a joint position, articulating developing countries’ stand for the upcoming ministerial conference on various issues, including the contentious agricultural issue. The two-day meeting will also take stock of the state of play in the negotiations in various areas of developing countries’ interests in Geneva since the WTO framework agreement was signed in July last year. (Dawn)
Setting up industrial parks is not a new concept but it will be new for Pakistan, said National Industrial Parks Development and Management Company (NIPDMC) Chief Executive Zubair Habib. Talking to the members of the Site Association of Industry (SAI) on Monday, he said that an industrial park was an area zoned for a cluster of industries and businesses. He informed them that the NIPDMC was assigned the task to develop an industrial park on 250 acres at the prime location of Korangi Industrial Area. (Dawn)
Firepower Group of Companies of Australia has proposed to establish a petroleum conditioners manufacturing and blending plant in Karachi to serve Pakistan and the regional markets. A three-member delegation of the group, headed by Tim Johnston, called on Federal Minister for Petroleum & Natural Resources Amanullah Khan Jadoon and discussed with him matters pertaining to investment potential in the energy sector. (Dawn)
Pakistan and Argentina Joint Economic Commission meeting will start today to discuss a range of issues for increasing bilateral trade between the two countries. An official delegation of Argentina would meet commerce ministry officials to discuss areas for increasing cooperation and trade between the two countries. (Dawn)
The delay in the implementation of presidential orders for blending ethanol with petrol has put the sugar producers in a quandary as their investment worth more than $1 billion to install distilleries is going waste, Chaudhry Zaka Ashraf, Central Chairman Pakistan Sugar Mills Association (PSMA) said. (The News)
First-ever two consignments of legally imported 334 small animals (sheep and goats) from India entered Pakistan. However, around two dozens were left behind as they had failed to clear medical tests including ‘Blue Tongue’ and ‘Brucellosis’. Two consignments, one imported by a Karachi-based party while other by a Lahore-based company, entered Pakistan through the Wagah border. These animals had been kept at Atari across Wagah for almost two weeks for undergoing disease tests. (The News)
The supportive policies of the government and SBP have enabled the micro-finance sector to grow rapidly in Pakistan and set a good example of public-private partnership in development. This was stated by the President Asian Development Bank (ADB) Haruhiko Kuroda while addressing the clients and newly trained officers of Khushhali Bank in Islamabad. (The News)
The first consignment of 1,900 tonnes of sugar from India is due to reach at Wagha border today. “Interchange has held yesterday evening and the rack would be placed today.” According to the sources, an importer from Lahore has imported sugar, which will sell at around Rs 25.80 per kilo in local market. The market price is around Rs 26 per kilo at present. (Daily Times)
The fourth meeting of the prime minister’s Project Monitoring Committee was chaired by Dr Salman Shah. Adviser to Prime Minister on Finance, Revenue, Economic Affairs and Statistics, in the Ministry of Finance. The Sindh finance minister, the chairman WAPDA, the secretary planning and development and other senior officials from the ministries of finance and economic affairs attended the meeting. (Daily Times)
CBR has declared Margalla Railway Station as Islamabad Dry Port with immediate effect. A notification issued stated that in exercise of powers conferred by clause (a) of section 9 and clause (a) of the section 10 of the Customs Act, 1969 the Central Board of Revenue has decided to declare Margalla Railway Station measuring an area of 13.8 acres, to be a customs port as the Islamabad Dry Port for clearance of goods imported or exported. (Daily Times)
The Economic Coordination Committee (ECC) of the cabinet has allowed investors return on investments in hydro power projects for 50 years and has decided to allow import of clinker by constituting an inter-ministerial committee comprising the Ministries of Industries, Production & Special Initiatives, the Ministry of Commerce and Revenue Division for determination of tariff on the import of clinker. (Daily Times)
Pakistan Railways would enter into an agreement with Pakistan Railways (PR) Advisory and Consultancy Services (PRACS), a public limited company, mandating PRACS to take over the task of “Commercial Management, Monitoring and Customer Facilitation” of container traffic on PR said Managing Director PRACS Ashfaq Khattak. Pakistan Railways would commit to assign three clear paths for operating container trains from the port city of Karachi to up country Dry Ports, particularly, Lahore and Faisalabad. (Pakistan Observer)
The Senior Communication Manager Nokia Middle East and Africa Eddy Rizk said the improving economic conditions in Pakistan particularly deregulatory policies in cellular industry has provided a very important and big market that has spurred launching of two new mobile phones. He pointed out that the launch of two new mobile phones are aimed at first time users and consumers and compliment Nokia’s ongoing strategy to bring the benefits of mobility to new growth markets. (Pakistan Observer)
06-09-2005
Prime Minister Shaukat Aziz inaugurated the first freight express train between Lahore and Karachi. He said the government would provide all financial assistance for railways improvement and modernization. The prime minister said the railways would be made capable of meeting challenges both in freight and passenger sectors. (Dawn)
Prime Minister Shaukat Aziz told car makers to rapidly enhance their car production capacities for meeting the growing demand in the country, and also look into the possibility of exporting cars, or at least, car components. “Start planning for Pakistan of tomorrow. Pakistan of tomorrow is a growing economy,” he urged the car producers and businessmen at the foundation stone laying ceremony of manufacturing capacity expansion of Honda Atlas Cars. (Dawn)
The Privatization Commission (PC) will hold bidding for the sale of 96.34 per cent shares of Javedan Cement Limited (JCL) on Sept 14.The PC has also taken serious notice of the mischievous reports spread by certain quarters against the privatization process, stated an official announcement issued. (Dawn)
The task force appointed by the Prime Minister to meet the transportation challenges up to 2010 has constituted a number of committees to prepare the National Trade Corridor Improvement Programme (NTCIP).
The World Bank is funding this programme to link the northern and southern corridors of the country with efficient transport system to reduce the cost of doing business for export industries. (The News)
Honda Motor Co. of Japan, having a joint venture with Honda Atlas Cars (Pakistan) Ltd, has announced it will invest 2.9 billion yens ($26.85m) in the local automotive industry to double its production capacity to around 50,000 units in the current fiscal year. (Daily Times)
The World Bank wants the Sindh Excise and Taxation Department be given the responsibility of handling the land titles as a “single integrated department” for administering urban land. For this, it wants the department be given a mandate by law, financial resources and training to the officials and staff. (Dawn)
The Asian Development Bank (ADB) president Mr Haruhiko Kuroda said that the ADB would increase its annual assistance by 50 per cent over the next three years. The increase in assistance was in recognition of Pakistan’s high growth potential and capacity building, he said. (Dawn)
Pakistan Association of Printing and Graphic Arts Industry (Papgai) has signed a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) with the Printing Association of China and Sri Lanka for enhancing mutual co-operation. Papgai has also made arrangements for training of Pakistani printers with the co-operation of Japan’s Association of Graphic Arts Technology (Jagat). (Dawn)
The State Bank of Pakistan (SBP), in a bold move, gave green signal to the banks that they can provide housing finance in rural areas of the country. Besides, the central bank also allowed rural agriculture financing based on the security of urban property. The Banking Policy Department (BPD) of the SBP, in a circular, said: "Banks may allow housing loans in the rural areas provided all regulations are complied." (The News)
Federal Minister for Food, Agriculture and Livestock (MINFAL), Sikandar Hayat Khan Bosan, asked the sugar industry and the farmers to team up to ensure that production of sugarcane and sugar is optimised for taking full advantage of domestic assets in the national interest. (The News)
Pakistan High Commissioner to Kenya, Syed Zahid Hussain said that High Commission and Export Promotion Bureau (EPB) would make the warehouse scheme operational soon to boost Pakistani exports to Kenya. High Commissioner said that imports into Africa is continuously increasing touching US $ 140 billion , whereas Pakistan’s exports for the last many years is stuck at around US $ 500 million per annum. (The Nation)
Carpet manufacturers have succeeded to attract $4 million export orders in a week mainly from European countries. Carpet manufacturers and exporters say a large number of foreign buyers, who have been in the city for the last couple of weeks to attend the carpet fair, are making deals to import Pakistani products. (Daily Times)
The company registration in Balochistan has witnessed a significant rise following special facilitation offered by the Securities and Exchange Commission of Pakistan (SECP) for new incorporations in the province. As a result of the policy of the Securities and Exchange Commission of Pakistan to extend the best possible facilities to businessmen to register their businesses as companies, a record number of 47 companies were registered during the months of July and August 2005 in Quetta. (Daily Times)
The holding of trade fairs attracted over 25 percent Foreign Direct Investment (FDI) in the country last year. Khalid Feroz, president of the Karachi Chambers of Commerce and Industry (KCCI), said this on the conclusion day of the seventh three-day Print-Pak exhibition-2005, organized by the Pakistan Association of Printing and Graphic Art Industry (PAPGAI) at Karachi Expo Center. (Daily Times)
President and chief executive officer of Pakistan Telecommunication Company Limited (PTCL) Junaid Iqbal said Etisalat telecom, the winner of PTCL's 26 percent shares would takeover PTCL by the end of current month. He said all the formalities in this regard have been finalized. (Daily Times)
Federal Minister for Information and Technology, Awais Ahmed Khan Leghari will inaugurate the two-day 2nd Annual South Asia Mobiles Summit 2005 to be held in Islamabad September 8-9, 2005. According to sponsors preparations for the summit are in full swing as representatives of leading telecom industry from Pakistan and regional countries will present papers on various themes providing critical insights on the dramatic growth of telecom industry in South Asian countries. (Pakistan Observer)
05-09-2005
A MULTINATIONAL store chain is desperately looking for a 16-acres piece of land in Karachi to open its retail outlet. Its executives supported by Sindh chief minister’s Investment Cell have not been able to locate one such piece of land because the property is either prohibitively expensive or its record is riddled with ambiguity, confusion and disputes. The search for an appropriate piece of land in Karachi by Metro, a German firm, is still on. However, it highlights a problem that is hindering business and industrial expansion and blocking new investment in Sindh. This has been recognized at all levels by the govt., as well as the World Bank. (Dawn)
Provincial Minister for Industry and Trade Muhammad Ajmal Cheema has said that in order to promote small and cottage industry on modern lines a policy has been evolved. “The Punjab Small Industries Corporation (PSIC) will set up four Common Facility Centres for the small industries, where latest machinery would be installed. Besides, the establishment of a Cottage Village was also under-consideration.” (Pakistan Observer)
In the absence of proper planning and focused approach towards emerging world textile scenario the local industry foresees a turbulent and a disastrous era beginning in 2007 when China fully avails WTO’s quota free benefits as at present it is being restricted at a growth of 8 per cent per annum. Industry leaders strongly feel that if they do not work hard and tailor proper and pragmatic textile policy ensuring growth and required strength to value-added textile sector (apparel), after two years the country would be turned into semi-finished raw material supplying source for other nations. (Pakistan Observer)
The Asian Development Bank (ADB) will provide about 600 million dollars for development projects of Sindh during the period 2005-06. (Business Recorder)
The Union of Small and Medium Enterprises (Unisame) has despatched copies of booklet titled Model Association to various associations and has requested them to include the activities in their agenda in order to serve their members. (Business Recorder)
Advisor to Chief Minister for Local Government Waseem Akhtar has said that expeditious completion of housing schemes for low income people is the foremost priority of Sindh government. During a visit to Hawkes Bay Scheme -42, he called for handing over possession of plots to 40,000 allottees at the earliest. (Business Recorder)
The federal government has attached "high priority" to the development of Transport infrastructure as the prime engine for economic growth and a comprehensive national transport policy will be enforced with the financial and technical assistance of the Asian Development Bank. (Business Recorder)
Eğer, sol tarafta, ayrı bir çerçeve içerisinde, gezinim tuşlarını göremiyorsanız, lütfen aşağıdaki EV resmine tıklayın.
