ISLAMABAD: Representatives of around 80 stake-holders at their meeting held here decided to work together for promoting livestock and diary industry in the country.
Under Growth for Rural Advancement and Sustainable Progress
(GRASP) it was decided that the small and medium enterprises in Sindh and Baluchistan associated with livestock, dairy and
horticulture will be strengthened to achieve the desired results within a short
span of time.
According to a report of Gwadar Pro media network, GRASP is
funded by European Union in Pakistan
and is implemented by International Trade Centre (ITC).
The discussion at the meeting focused on the identification
of priority products in the horticulture, livestock and dairy sectors that need
urgent attention through the joint efforts of stake-holders.
In addition, key issues such as producers’ capabilities,
support services,policy and regulatory environment also came under discussion.
Meanwhile, Abdul Razak Dawood, Advisor for Commerce,
Textile, Industries, Production and Investment said in a statement Small and
medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) make up the bulk of businesses in Pakistan.
In order to achieve coherent, broad-based and sustainable
economic growth, there is a need to focus on SMEs and unleash the potential in
livestock and horticulture besides other sectors in the country and GRASP comes
at the most appropriate time when Pakistan is geared toward
improvement in these sectors.
Milko Van Gool, Head of Cooperation, EU in Pakistan said
GRASP aligns with the rural development and economic cooperation initiatives of
the European Union in Pakistan as it will help SMEs in horticulture, livestock
and dairy sectors become more competitive by making improvements at all levels
of the value chains. These consultations will help us adapt to the federal and
provincial context in Pakistan
for maximum impact on the lives of people in Sindh and Baluchistan.
Speaking on the occasion, Robert Skidmore, Chief Sector and
Enterprise Competitiveness International Trade Centre expressed that
contributions of partners in this first round of consultations will help
achieve a measurable reduction in poverty and increase in economic growth in addition
to creation of more job opportunities in the country.
Livestock, dairy and horticulture – which account for 70% of
value-added agriculture – have particularly strong potential for growth,
climate adaptation and increased participation of women. Small and medium-sized
enterprises in these two sectors, face major challenges.
GRASP will help small and medium-sized enterprises in
horticulture and livestock become more competitive by making improvements at
all levels of the value chain. The nine month inception phase of the project
began in June 2019.(Additional Input From INP)
ISLAMABAD: The Pakistan Telecommunication Company Ltd (PTCL) on Wednesday said that internet services have fully been restored, a day after Pakistan faced a countrywide disruption following a fault in its submarine cables.
In a statement by the PTCL spokesman, the company regretted
any inconvenience that had been caused by the disruption in services.
In a post shared on Twitter on Tuesday, PTCL had said:
“We regret to inform you that due to international submarine cable fault,
internet services are impacted across Pakistan.
“Our technical teams are working on fully restoring
internet services. We apologise for any inconvenience caused and thank you for
your patience.”
Pakistan on Tuesday
experienced slow internet browsing owing to a fault in IMEWE, an international
submarine cable system which provides internet bandwidth to the country.
Read More: “World’s two major companies setting
up solar panel plants in Pakistan”
An internet outage also occurred earlier this year, in June,
when services were disrupted due to “multiple cable cuts”.
In 2017, internet users had experience slow internet browsing owing to a fault that occurred in IMEWE near Jeddah, Saudi Arabia.(Additional Input From INP)
ISLAMABAD: Low-carbon energy development concerns the future of humanity, Chinese President Xi Jinping said in a congratulatory letter to the Taiyuan Energy Low Carbon Development Forum, which opened on Tuesday in Taiyuan of north China’s Shanxi province, a traditional energy production center in China.
The country attaches
great importance to low-carbon energy development and actively promotes energy
consumption, supply, technology and institutional transformation, Xi said.
The country is
ready to work with the international community to strengthen energy cooperation
in all aspects, safeguard energy security, address climate change, protect the
ecology and environment, promote sustainable development and bring more
benefits to people around the world, he added.
As a national
forum approved by the State Council of China, the Taiyuan forum attracts
expertise from around the world. It has already been successfully held for
three times, exerting significant impact in the global energy field.
It is developing
into an influential energy platform for conducting high-level dialogues,
launching scientific and technological achievements and promoting international
cooperation in the global energy sector.
Co-hosted by the
People’s Government of Shanxi Province, Ministry of Foreign Affairs, National
Development and Reform Commission, Ministry of Science and Technology, Ministry
of Commerce and National Energy Administration, the event this year features an
opening ceremony and summit forum, an exhibition on energy revolution and six
sub-forums.
While highlighting
the national theme of energy revolution, the forum aims to show the world
China’s achievements and determination in advancing energy revolution as well
as its call for further international cooperation.
The event also
serves as a great opportunity for Shanxi to enhance its influence at home and
abroad, lead energy revolution and promote energy transformation and
development. It is of great significance for Shanxi to transform from a major
coal consumer to a pioneer in energy revolution and embrace high-quality
development.
Shanxi places more
emphasis on attracting expertise from around the world for this year’s forum.
It has strengthened the exchanges with the International Energy Agency, foreign
provinces or states with friendship relationship, elite universities as well as
research institutions. Meanwhile, it has deepened cooperation with leading
energy companies in the world to build demonstration projects on international
cooperation.
Shanxi province
opens up to welcome all friends at home and abroad and intends to cooperate
with international partners in energy transformation and reform.
It hopes the forum
will provide a platform of consultation, contribution, and shared benefits for
various parties to promote global energy transformation, jointly address the
challenge of climate change, reach a consensus on fully implementing the United
Nations 2030 Sustainable Development Goals, and deepen pragmatic cooperation.
To thoroughly
implement the spirit of the 19th National Congress of the Communist Party of
China and the important arguments of Xi on energy reform, the forum will help
to practice the country’s goals, policies, requirements and strategies on
energy, promote energy consumption, supply, technology, institutional
revolution and all-round international cooperation. It will also push forward
the Shanxi
energy revolution comprehensive reform pilot program.
Through the forum,
Shanxi will gather global wisdom, bring about new ideas for economic
development and fulfill its mission given by the central government to provide
valuable experience in energy revolution for the rest of the country.
The reform program
in Shanxi is expected to be a pioneering one in exploring ways to carry out
such programs nationwide. It is a comprehensive one that involves various
fields and tackles deep-rooted problems in China’s economic development.
Taking this forum as an opportunity, Shanxi determines to shoulder its responsibility and resolutely achieve the strategic goals of energy transformation and reform as a good example for the rest of the country or even the world. (The Report was Published in People’s Daily China and Reproduced by TNT)
ISLAMABAD: Shanxi province in north China has taken concrete actions to increase power production from renewable energy sources and achieved remarkable results in replacing coal with clean energy.
Solar energy offers a clean source of power. On the ridge bordering Yungang district and Zuoyun county in Datong, solar panels were glinting in the sunlight, and modular prefabricated substations stood among them, delivering clean energy to distant places.
On a mountain near
Shahukou in Youyu county, more than 30 wind turbines rotated continuously under
the clear blue sky. With 1,680 hours of effective wind speed each year, they could
produce 80 million to 100 million kilowatt-hours of electricity.
In recent years, Shanxi
has quickened its steps for energy transformation, giving priority to green and
diversified development. Aside from coal power generation, the province has
increased photovoltaic (PV) and wind power generating capacities.
As a national energy base, Shanxi has vigorously promoted new energy projects and significantly increased installed capacity of wind power and PV power generation.
Over the past
three years, the installed capacity of wind power and solar PV power grew by
16.3% and 70.9% respectively, making wind and solar PV power the second and
third largest power sources in the province.
The installed
capacity of wind power exceeded 10 million kilowatts. The solar PV power
generation capacity in Shanxi reached 4 million kilowatts, ranking first in
China.
Shanxi has stepped
up the development of wind energy resources, actively promoted the construction
of low wind speed projects in central and southern part of the province, and
pushed ahead the construction of a 7 million–kilowatt wind power base in the
north.
The province is
striving to integrate at least 14 million kilowatts of wind power capacity into
its power system by 2020.
Moreover, the
province has promoted the development of pilot clean heating projects. It plans
to bring the capacity of wind power heating units to 600,000 kilowatts and
expand the areas covered by clean heating to 1.2 million square meters.
In terms of PV
power, Shanxi has applied for approval from the National Energy Administration
for construction of national solar PV leading technology bases, in an effort to
increase its installed PV power generation capacity to 10 million kilowatts by
2020.
Shanxi has also
intensively developed geothermal projects. It has promoted geothermal
development projects and technologies, improved geothermal energy development
and utilization, and built geothermal heating demonstration zones in Taiyuan,
Jinzhong, Xinzhou, Changzhi and Linfen. By 2020, the geothermal heating area in
the province will reach 23.6 million square meters.
Additionally,
Shanxi has used internet technologies to support the building of a smart system
of clean energy. The province adheres to the integrated development of the internet,
advanced information technology and energy industry.
It has improved
energy internet infrastructure construction, built an intelligent system for
energy production and consumption, made the production of renewable energy
smarter, and promoted the coordinated development of centralized and
distributed energy storage.
Shanxi has
advanced the pilot construction of intelligent energy service parks and
improved the consumption capacity of green electricity. It encourages new
energy power generation enterprises to trade wind and thermal power as a whole
with places in and out of the province as a way to boost new energy consumption
capacity.
The province has
encouraged private sectors to take part in the power transformation projects
from coal to electricity. It has also enlarged the proportion of green
electricity output to other provinces through existing channels.
Thanks to the
effective measures, sustainable development of new energy in Shanxi has shown a
strong momentum.
Datong coal mining
subsidence area PV base is the country’s first national solar PV leading
technology base with a power generation capacity of one million kilowatts. By
the end of June, 2018, the project’s power generation had been connected to the
grid.
Nowadays, the land
and vegetation in the mining subsidence area have been gradually restored, and
the environment has been effectively improved. With rows of PV panels shining
brightly, the mining subsidence area has become a beautiful landscape in
Datong.
Lingqiu county in
Datong is home to the largest wind power heating project in China. Put into
operation in October 2018, the project has a generation capacity of 400,000
kilowatts
The project could
be used as a source of indoor heating for an area of 200,000 square meters in
the short run and 800,000 square meters in the long run, directly benefiting
5,513 residents relocated for poverty alleviation.
Shanxi’s first
large-scale biological gas project was put into operation in April this year.
It is able to process 100,000 mu (about 6,667 hectares) to 200,000 mu of crop
straws or 100,000 tons to 150,000 tons of livestock and poultry breeding waste,
and produce 14 million cubic meters of biogas, more than 7 million cubic meters
of natural gas, more than 40,000 tons of high efficient organic fertilizers and
6 million cubic meters of carbon dioxide.
Tanghuai
industrial park in Shanxi has implemented geothermal and clean energy heating
projects. In 2018, the park achieved full coverage of clean energy central
heating, with an accumulative clean energy heating area of 2.2 million square
meters.
Shanxi Shuangliang
Renewable Energy Industry Group has utilized the world advanced technology to
develop deep geothermal heating, and has built the first and largest geothermal
central heating station in China.
Through steadily advancing on the path of sustainable development of new energy, Shanxi is firmly shouldering its historical mission. (The Report was Published in People’s Daily China and Reproduced by TNT)
LAHORE: Punjab government on Friday announced to file an appeal against the court verdict in Sahiwal Tragedy Case.
Provincial Minister for Law, Parliamentary Affairs and
Social Welfare Raja Basharat said instructions in this regard have been issued
to the Advocate General already.
Speaking at a press conference at DGPR office, Raja Basharat
said that Chief Minister has also constituted an inquiry commission which would
took a detailed review of all those matters due to which victims of Sahiwal
Tragedy have faced hurdles.
This commission would identify weaknesses in prosecution,
investigation and the process of evidence within a specific period he said,
adding the government is concerned on the murder of innocent people in this
tragedy.
He expressed surprise that expression of satisfaction of the
heirs of victims on the recent decision is a very big question mark. Law
Minister said that government got registered FIR according to the will of the
heirs and judicial inquiry was conducted.
Similarly, the demand of not conducting trial in Sahiwal was
also accepted. However, the heirs could be satisfied of this decision but the
government is not satisfied and it will make every effort to bring the
responsible persons of this tragic incident to their logical ends.
To a question, he said that government is not responsible
for the poor health of Nawaz Sharif nor it showed any negligence in the
treatment. He said that not only personal physician of Nawaz Sharif was
satisfied about the facilities being provided by the government but government
also called special physician from Karachi.
Chief Minister also presented his plane with the offer to
call physician of his own choice from any country. He said that Nawaz Sharif
had a chronic disease which abruptly reported and now we should pray for his
early recovery.
To a question, he said that court has permitted to Maulana Fazal ur Rehman to hold protest march and government has accepted his constitutional freedom. It is hoped that the limits fixed by the court would be followed by the protestors, he added.
Earlier on Friday Special Assistant to Prime Minister on Information and Broadcasting Firdous Ashiq Awan said that the prime minister directed the Punjab government to file an appeal in the Anti-Terrorism Court (ATC) against the judgment in Sahiwal killing case.
In a post shared on twitter, Awan said that beside appeal, premier has also ordered the provincial government to investigate the weaknesses and flaws of prosecution in leading the case.
She added the entire nation had watched the video of Counter Terrorism Department (CTD) officers opening fire at the passengers. The government of Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) is committed to ensure justice to the children, who lost their parents in this shooting mishap, she asserted.
The ATC had ordered to acquit six CTD personnel due to lack of evidence. These accused included Safdar Hussain, Ahsan Khan, Ramzan, Saifullah, Husnain and Nasir.
In January 2019, four persons including two women were shot dead in Qadirabad area by the CTD officers who claimed that they killed four ‘terrorists’ over intelligence reports.
Umair and his two sisters Muneeba and Hadia were also present in the car when the incident occurred. Later, they were taken away by police and were handed over to their relatives.
On the other hand, eyewitnesses denied CTD’s statements and said that the people in the car did not fire at officials. “There were no weapons found with the bodies,” they said.
They said that the children traveling in the car claimed that the police had killed their parents. “Following the firing incident, the security personnel left the kids at the petrol station where they spoke to us”. A few minutes later, CTD officials returned and took the children with them to an undisclosed location,” the eyewitnesses added.
Prime Minister and Chief Minister of Punjab Usman Buzdar took notice of the tragic incident after which, Inspector General Amjad Javed Saleemi formed Joint Investigation Team (JIT) comprising Inter-Services Intelligence (ISI), Intelligence Bureau (IB) and Military Intelligence (MI) officers that declared law enforcement members responsible for the incident.
Later, the officials involved in the encounter were nabbed on the directions of CM Buzdar and an FIR was lodged on behalf of Khaleel’s brother Jaleel against 16 people under section 302 (premeditated murder) of the Pakistan Penal Code and Section 7 of the Anti-Terrorism Act (ATA) 1997.
ISLAMABAD: The Election Commission of Pakistan (ECP) on Thursday raised an objection over Deputy Attorney General Saqlain Haider representing the Pakistan Tehreek e Insaf (PTI) as its lead lawyer in the foreign funding case.
The ECP in its detailed order has questioned the merit of lawyer Saqlain Haider representing the PTI despite being appointed as deputy attorney general.
The order states: “Saqlain Haider, learned counsel for the respondent who is stated to have been appointed as Deputy Attorney General, had no right to appear for political party against the interest of the state.”
It further states that the PTI lawyer should rather protect the state and not the party which are two completely different entities.
“The learned counsel should have preferred the state over the interests of a political party after his present appointment as Deputy Attorney General,” it added.
On PTI’s demand to exclude the petitioner and its founding member Akbar S. Babar from the scrutiny process, the order states: “The request for exclusion of the complainant from the scrutiny was not justified because the latter had to provide material evidence to the committee.”
In 2014, on the application filed by Akbar S Babar, the foreign funding case was heard for a long time at ECP. A special committee was formed in March 2018 for the purpose.
The committee had asked PTI for the details of its accounts against which PTI had challenged the authority of the ECP. (With additional input from INP)
ISLAMABAD: Pakistan and India signed the Kartarpur Corridor agreement at Zero Point of Wagah border on Thursday.
Sikh Yatrees will be permitted to visit the Gurdwara Kartarpur Sahib from morning till evening, Dr Faisal said while addressing the media after the signing of the agreement.
“There will be a $20 per visitor per visit, as service charges.” Dr Faisal said, adding that the prime minister will inaugurate the corridor on November 9.
The significance of the signing of the bilateral treaty between the two sides comes at a time when bilateral relations are at an all-time low and no high-level meetings between the two sides have been held.
Pakistani and Indian officials signing Kartarpur agreement on Thursday. Google Image
While there have been several agreements between the two sides, very few have been signed by them. In 1974, a Bilateral Agreement on Protocol on Visits to Religious Shrines was signed.
Yatrees will be permitted to visit the Gurdwara Kartarpur Sahib from morning till evening.
Pakistan says it is still working on the invitations for the inauguration of Kartarpur Sahib Corridor, though one was sent to former Indian prime minister Manmohan Singh who hails from a village Gah in Indian Punjab.
Prime Minister Imran Khan would inaugurate the facility on the scheduled date as construction work has entered the final stage, the ruling Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf party announced.
The inauguration of Kartarpur Corridor would coincide with the birth anniversary celebrations of founder of Sikhism Baba Guru Nanak Sahib.
“Pakistan is all set to open its doors to Sikhs from all across the globe,” the PM wrote. “The world’s largest Gurdwara will be visited by Sikhs from across India and other parts of the world,” he said.
Prime Minister Imran Khan would inaugurate the facility on the scheduled date as construction work has entered the final stage.
The prime minister said the Kartarpur Corridor will be a major religious hub for the Sikh community. “(It) will boost the local economy (and) result in earning foreign exchange for the country creating jobs in different sectors including travel and hospitality.”
Pakistan handed the final draft of the proposed bilateral agreement over to India on October 11 and also accepted New Delhi’s demand to allow devotees of other faiths – Hindus, Christians, Zoroastrians etc – to visit Baba Guru Nanak Devji’s final resting place. (With additional input from INP)
ISLAMABAD: In another positive development that could boost investors’ sentiments towards Pakistan and will allow the debt-ridden state to combat its economic crisis, Pakistan has jumped up 28 places on the World Bank’s Ease of Doing Business Index and clinched 108th position besides securing a place among top ten global business climate improvers.
Pakistan carried out six reforms in the last one year that helped improving its ranking from 136 to 108, according to the World Bank’s annual flagship report “Ease of Doing Business 2020”, released on Thursday. Last year, Pakistan was ranked 136th among the 190 nations surveyed.
According to the World Bank, the six areas which saw reforms included starting a business, dealing with construction permits, getting electricity, registering property, paying taxes and trading across borders. Pakistan made starting a business easier by expanding procedures available through the online one-stop shop. In addition to improvements in property registration, obtaining a construction permit became easier.
The launching of online portals for new commercial connections made getting electricity easier, and tariff changes are announced in advance. Moreover, tax compliance became easier through online payment modules for value-added tax and corporate income tax. Pakistan made trading across borders easier by enhancing the integration of various agencies into an electronic system and by improving coordination of joint physical inspections at the port.
Since assuming the office, Prime Minister Imran Khan made it amongst his highest priorities to take measures for improving ease of doing business in the country. As a result of the coordinated efforts led by the state’s institutions, Pakistan has been acknowledged by the World Bank among the top global reformers this year.
Pakistan, another top improver, developed an ambitious reform strategy, setting up a national secretariat as well as a prime minister’s reform steering committee to ensure progress, the report acknowledged.
Pakistan’s economy kept up a solid pace of business regulatory reforms and earned the spot among the world’s top ten most improved economies and improved their global ease of doing business scores.
Governments of 115 economies around the world launched 294 reforms over the past year to make doing business easier for their domestic private sector, paving the way for more jobs, expanded commercial activity, and higher incomes for many, according to the World Bank Group’s Doing Business 2020 study.
This latest edition of the study documents reforms implemented in 10 areas of business activity in 190 economies over a 12-month period ending on 1 May 2019.
Business-friendly environments are associated with lower levels of poverty, and improved regulatory efficiency can stimulate entrepreneurship, startups, innovation, access to credit, and investment.
The study is the 17th in an annual series that evaluates regulations enhancing or constraining business activity for small and medium-size enterprises.
“Governments can foster market-oriented development and broad-based growth by creating rules that help businesses launch, hire, and expand,” World Bank Group president David Malpass said.
“Removing barriers facing entrepreneurs generates better jobs, more tax revenues, and higher incomes, all of which are necessary to reduce poverty and raise living standards.”
“This rise is significant and made possible by collective and coordinated actions of Federal Government and Provincial Governments of Sindh and Punjab over the past year,” said Illango Patchamuthu, World Bank Country Director for Pakistan.
“The accelerated reform agenda has many noteworthy features to improve quality of regulations, reduce time and streamline processes. This momentum needs to be sustained in the coming years for Pakistan to continue to make progress, said Illango.
It is important to note that Doing Business is not meant to be an investment guide, but rather a measurement of indicators of ease of doing business.
The economies with the most notable improvement in Doing Business 2020 are Saudi Arabia, Jordan, Togo, Bahrain, Tajikistan, Pakistan, Kuwait, China, India and Nigeria, according to the report closely watched by the global investors.
Top performers typically had online business incorporation processes, electronic tax filing platforms, and online procedures for property transfers.
The Ease of Doing Business index is mostly used as a guide by foreign investors to learn more about a country, aiding decisions on pouring money into the economy. The report is based on surveys carried out in Lahore and Karachi. The results are based on the work done from November 2018 to June 2019.
International investors consult the report and the Global Competitiveness Index of the World Economic Forum before taking decisions on investment plans. (With additional input from INP)
LAHORE: Punjab Information Minister Mian Aslam Iqbal said that government accepts right of protest but no one would be allowed to talk against institutions.
Talking to media persons, Mian Aslam said when PM Imran Khan is apprising the world about Kashmir issue Maulana Fazlur Rehman is arranging his political show in federal capital.
He said uniform of JUI-F workers resemble with RSS workers. He said India tried its best to include Pakistan in FATF blacklist and JUI-F showed its armed group in a rally.
He said Nawaz Sharif is being given best medical treatment. Mian Aslam added that Nawaz Sharif did not want to go to hospital with NAB team and went to hospital after Shehbaz insisted for this.
He said government did not want to politicize the health issue of Nawaz Sharif. (With additional input from INP)
ISLAMABAD: Chairman Senate Standing Committee on Interior Senator A. Rehman Malik has said that the Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi is continuously acting like a Hollywood actor by his drama of fake surgical strikes at Line of Control (LoC).
He said that PM Modi used this tactic of fake surgical
strike in his election campaign to win the election. He planned and engineered
Pulwama attack to blame Pakistan
for it and then played a Hollywood style
surgical strikes which is still continue.
The Chairman Senate Body advised Prime Minister Modi to be a
real statesman and come out of this fake surgical strike illusion. He said by
fake surgical strikes at LoC PM Narendra Modi proves to impress his opponents
which is his wild imagination. ‘Very rapidly PM Modi is converting a
secular India into an
extremist state by his full support to Indian terrorist organization RSS which
is expanding from Nagaland to East Punjab in India’, he added.
Rehman Malik appealed the Indian opposition parties to stand
against Narendra Modi to block his agenda of converting India into an
extremist state. I would continue to expose the RSS and Modi’s mindset
against Pakistan, adding
that India
had a history of false and persistent motivated flag operations, he added.(Additional Input From INP)
