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Top business body says talks to sign Pak-GCC free trade agreement at ‘advanced stage’

Pakistan's Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif (right) shakes hand with the chairman of the Saudi-Pak Business Council, Fahad Bin Muhammad Al-Bash, in Islamabad, Pakistan, on on June 20, 2022. (Photo Courtesy: @SPAeconomic/Twitter)
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Updated 29 June 2022
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Top business body says talks to sign Pak-GCC free trade agreement at ‘advanced stage’

  • Pakistani officials say expect Saudi trade delegation to request their government to set up Pak-Saudi joint investment body
  • FPCCI requests kingdom for swift visa processing and simpler documentation requirements for exports to Saudi Arabia
Updated 29 June 2022
SAIMA SHABBIR

ISLAMABAD: A week-long visit to Pakistan by a Saudi business delegation had created new opportunities for collaboration and partnership agreements were expected to be signed in several sectors, a senior Saudi diplomat said on Tuesday, while the president of the Federation of Pakistan Chambers of Commerce and Industry said negotiations to sign a Pak-Gulf Cooperation Council Free Trade Agreement were at an “advanced stage.”

The 15-member delegation, nominated by the Saudi government and led by Fahad Bin Muhammad Al-Bash, the chairman of the Saudi-Pak Business Council, arrived in Pakistan on June 20 to explore investments and joint ventures. While in Pakistan, the group visited Islamabad, Lahore, Sialkot, Faisalabad, and Karachi and met representatives from various chambers of commerce and the board of investment, as well as conducted business-to-business meetings in each city. The group also visited factories in Sialkot, Faisalabad and Karachi, before flying out to the kingdom on June 27.

After the conclusion of the visit, Irfan Iqbal Sheikh, president of the Federation of Pakistan Chambers of Commerce and Industry, said in a statement negotiations to sign Pak-GCC FTA were at an “advanced stage.”

“Pakistan should target IT & IT-enabled services exports to Saudi Arabia; along with skilled workforce in Information and Communication Technologies (ICT),” Sheikh said in a statement released by the FPCCI.

“Value-added textiles, leather products, footwear, handicrafts, sports goods, pharmaceuticals, surgical goods, gems & jewelry, rice, fruits & vegetables and construction materials can fetch major additional orders from Saudi Arabia worth billions of dollars annually.”




Saudi business delegation visits Happilac Paints factory in Faisalabad, Pakistan, on June 23, 2022. (Photo courtesy: Saudi embassy, Islamabad)

Sheikh added that this was the “only sustainable way” to curtail Pakistan’s trade deficit, which is expected to be close to $48 billion when the final figures come out for fiscal year 2021-22.

Azhar Ali Dahar, the trade and investment minister at the Pakistani embassy in Riyadh, said the recent trade visit reflected the Saudi government’s desire to deepen economic relations with Pakistan.

“They [Saudi delegation] have a plan to ask the Saudi government to establish a Pak-Saudi investment body to streamline collaborations between both countries’ businessmen,” Dahar told Arab News.

Mubsher Alshehri, a commercial attaché at the Saudi embassy in Islamabad, told Arab News partnership agreements were expected to be concluded in various sectors including FinTech [financial technology], paints, renewable energy, and construction, as well as the production sector of livestock, rice, and feed.

Muhammad Idrees, the president of the Karachi Chamber of Commerce and Industry (KCCI), said the visit had changed the Saudi perception of the business landscape in Pakistan as well as Karachi, its financial hub.

“They have shown their interest in establishing joint ventures in coastal tourism and construction,” Idrees said, adding that the Saudi businessmen were interested in introducing new brands of international standard garments for exports to Gulf countries.

“They have also invited us to exhibit our products in Saudi Arabia and it was decided to nominate a focal person on both sides to coordinate this event where our businessmen will visit the kingdom to show their products,” the KCCI president added.




Officials of Karachi Chamber of Commerce and Industry meet Saudi-Pak Business Council members in Karachi, Pakistan, on June 28, 2022. (@CommissionerKhi/Twitter)

Fayyaz Ahmed, vice president of the Faisalabad Chamber of Commerce and Industry, said the Saudi businessmen had shown “keen interest” in the textile and paint industry.

“The Saudi delegation visited a textile and paint factory in Faisalabad where they have shown satisfaction over the quality and standard of our products,” he told Arab News, hoping this would soon translate into collaborations and joint ventures.

Al-Bash, chairman of Saudi-Pak Business Council, was quoted in an FPCCI statement as inviting “practical proposals” from the Pakistani business community for “swift and tangible development on projects of mutual interest.”

“Pakistani rice, spices, fruits and cuisine are very popular in Saudi Arabia and Pakistani exporters should come forward for a bigger market share,” Al-Bash said.

Junaid Makda, Chairman of FPCCI's Pak-Saudi Arabia Joint Business Council, said after the COVID-19 pandemic, which had been a major obstacle in people-to-people, business-to-business and chamber-to-chamber contacts between the two countries, the two sides had agreed on regular contact and single-country trade fairs and exhibitions.

“He also requested Saudi authorities to facilitate Pakistani businessmen with the swift visa processing and simpler documentation requirements for exports to the kingdom,” the FPCCI said.

Topics: Pak-GCC Saudi Pakistan ties Federation of Pakistan Chambers of Commerce and Industry Saudi business delegation in Pakistan Pak-Gulf Cooperation Council Free Trade Agreement Karachi Chamber of Commerce and Industry KCCI Saudi-Pak Business Council

Amid investment push, Uzbek foreign minister in Pakistan to discuss trade, regional connectivity

Updated 16 min 48 sec ago
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Amid investment push, Uzbek foreign minister in Pakistan to discuss trade, regional connectivity

  • The government has been hosting official and business delegations to address the economic challenges faced by the country
  • Pakistan is interested in reliable Central Asian energy sources and sees Uzbekistan as gateway to other markets in the region
Updated 16 min 48 sec ago
SAIMA SHABBIR

ISLAMABAD: Uzbekistan’s Foreign Minister Bakhtiyor Saidov arrived in Pakistan for a two-day visit on Tuesday night to discuss bilateral trade and regional connectivity, confirmed a brief statement circulated by the foreign office, as the administration in Islamabad is trying to bolster economic ties amid financial challenges.
A Saudi business delegation recently concluded its visit to the country where its members held a series of business-to-business meetings to explore investment opportunities across various sectors during their visit.
This was followed by a meeting between Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif and Japanese industrialists, where the PM encouraged them to invest in Pakistan’s electric automotive industry. Similarly, Federal Minister for Finance Muhammad Aurangzeb engaged with international investors, assuring them of the country’s commitment to create an enabling business environment. The impending visit of Saudi Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman, expected this month, is anticipated to bring several billion dollars in investments.
The Uzbek foreign minister’s trip also highlights the strengthening bilateral relations between the two states and aligns with Pakistan’s objectives of enhancing regional connectivity for greater economic prosperity.
“Foreign Minister Saidov will call on Prime Minister Muhammad Shehbaz Sharif and hold in-depth talks with Deputy Prime Minister and Foreign Minister Mohammad Ishaq Dar on a wide range of bilateral issues of mutual interest, with special focus on trade and connectivity,” the foreign office said in a statement released before his arrival.
“The visit of the Foreign Minister of Republic of Uzbekistan is expected to provide fresh impetus to the friendly relations between the two countries,” it added.
Pakistan views Central Asian countries as crucial partners in enhancing regional trade and energy security.
The region’s vast natural resources, especially oil and gas, can be vital for Pakistan to secure reliable energy sources and diversify its energy imports.
Uzbekistan plays a key role in this equation due to its geographical position and resources, acting as a gateway for Pakistan to access other markets in the region.
Last year, Pakistan’s former caretaker prime minister Anwar-ul-Haq Kakar visited the Central Asian country to participate in an Economic Cooperation Organization (ECO) meeting where he reiterated his country’s commitment to regional cooperation and economic integration.

Topics: Pakistan Uzbekistan Ties

Pakistan invites China to establish industrial zones for electric car manufacturing

Updated 08 May 2024
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Pakistan invites China to establish industrial zones for electric car manufacturing

  • Earlier this year, Pakistani car maker Sazgar Engineering unveiled electric car made in collaboration with China
  • Road transport is significant contributor to pollution as around 23 percent of Pakistan’s greenhouse gases come from vehicles
Updated 08 May 2024
Arab News Pakistan

ISLAMABAD: Pakistan’s planning minister has invited China to collaborate with Islamabad in setting up industrial zones to manufacture electric cars amid a renewed push to attract foreign investment, state news agency APP reported on Wednesday. 
The government of Pakistan approved an ambitious National Electric Vehicles Policy (NEVP) in 2019 with the goal of electric vehicles comprising 30 percent of all passenger vehicle and heavy-duty truck sales by 2030, and an even more ambitious target of 90 percent by 2040. For two- and three-wheelers, as well as buses, the policy set a goal of achieving 50 percent of new sales by 2030 and 90 percent by 2040.
In a meeting with Chinese officials on Tuesday, Planning Minister Ahsan Iqbal invited them to collaborate on the production of electric cars.
“He emphasized Pakistan’s aim to establish industrial zones for the manufacturing of electric cars in collaboration with China, leveraging Pakistan’s competitive advantage to reduce overall production costs and create employment opportunities for Pakistani workers,” APP reported.
Earlier this year, Sazgar Engineering, one of Pakistan’s leading car manufacturers, unveiled the electric vehicle “ORA 3,” manufactured in collaboration with Chinese car manufacturer Great Wall Motors (GWM).
The urban areas of Pakistan exhibit some of the world’s highest levels of air pollution, primarily due to sub-2.5 μm particulate emissions. This issue significantly impairs both the country’s economy and the quality of life of its residents. Road transport is a significant contributor to air pollution as around 23 percent of Pakistan’s greenhouse gas emissions originate from vehicles. 
On Tuesday, Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif also met a delegation of Japanese industrialists in Islamabad and invited them to invest in Pakistan’s electric automotive industry. 
“There is a wide potential for investment in the electric vehicle industry in Pakistan and Japanese companies with the best technology can take full advantage of it,” Sharif told the Japanese group.

Topics: Pakistan china Pakistan China Ties

Pakistan court orders Imran Khan’s wife to be moved from house arrest to Adiala Prison

Updated 08 May 2024
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Pakistan court orders Imran Khan’s wife to be moved from house arrest to Adiala Prison

  • Bushra Bibi had petitioned court to shift her from Bani Gala home to Adiala Jail where Khan is also imprisoned
  • Bushra has been handed two sentences, 14 years in graft case and 7 years for violating Pakistan’s marriage law
Updated 08 May 2024
Arab News Pakistan

ISLAMABAD: The Islamabad High Court (IHC) on Thursday ordered that ex-premier Imran Khan’s wife Bushra Bibi be transferred from her Banigala residence, declared a sub-jail, to Adiala Jail, where her husband is incarcerated.
Bushra has been living under house arrest at her husband’s sprawling Bani Gala mansion in Islamabad since Jan. 31 when both were sentenced to 14 years in prison in a case that relates to accusations they undervalued gifts from a state repository and gained profits from selling them while Khan was prime minister from 2018-22. Khan is jailed at Rawalpindi’s Adiala Jail. 
In February, Khan and his wife were also sentenced to seven years on charges they violated the country’s marriage law when they wed in 2018 — the fourth sentence for Khan and the second for his wife.
Bushra had petitioned the court several months ago that she should be moved to Adiala and the IHC had reserved its verdict in the case on May 2. 
“Court has annulled notification of house arresting former first lady Bushra Bibi at Bani Gala sub-prison and ordered her transfer to Adiala Prison,” Khan’s Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf political party said in a message to reporters. 
During Thursday’s hearing when the court reserved its judgment, Bushra’s lawyer Usman Gill said after her sentencing in the state repository case by the trial court, his client went to Adiala Jail as per the trial court order which was also forwarded to the jail superintendent. But on the orders of the interior ministry, the chief commissioner issued an “illegal notification for transfer” to Bani Gala, the lawyer argued. 
“There was no instruction from the authorities concerned regarding the transfer from Adiala Jail to Banigala,” he said.
“Neither the provincial government nor did the Punjab prisons inspector general issue any such directive [for transfer] … The place of imprisonment was to be determined by the trial court and not the chief commissioner.”
The state’s counsel argued that Bushra was moved to Bani Gala because of security threats. 
“Were the 141 women who were brought to Adiala after Bushra less privileged?” the judge hearing the case asked, saying they too should be imprisoned at their homes then.
“Sometimes you say that [you] cannot present her [Bushra] in the court as there are threats and at times, you say that the jail is not secure. Are you secure?” the judge quipped. “If I am confined in my home by my own will, I would be very happy but how can a prisoner’s property be turned into a sub-jail against his will?”
The IHC subsequently reserved its verdict on the petition.
CASES
In a separate petition to the court filed last month, Bushar, a deeply religious woman widely believed to be Khan’s spiritual guide, alleged she was being poisoned through contaminated food and subjected to “mental and physical torture which is becoming a serious threat to her health and life.” She also alleged that her room and bathroom had been bugged and multiple hidden cameras installed in a “blatant violation of her privacy, dignity and honor.”
The petition said Bushra was only given ten minutes for meetings with family members and lawyers, with five jail staff supervising at all times.
Khan was first jailed after being handed a three-year prison sentence in August 2023 by the Election Commission for not declaring assets earned from selling gifts worth more than 140 million rupees ($501,000) in state possession and received during his premiership. In January, Khan and Bushra were handed 14-year jail terms following a separate investigation by the country’s top anti-graft body into the same charges involving state gifts. 
An anti-graft court in Islamabad also handed Khan a 10-year jail term in January for revealing state secrets, a week before national elections on Feb. 8. The ruling on his marriage to Bushra and a seven-year sentence each for both also came ahead of the polls.
Khan has also been indicted under Pakistan’s anti-terrorism law in connection with violence against the military that erupted following his brief arrest related to the Al-Qadir case on May 9. A section of Pakistan’s 1997 anti-terrorism act prescribes the death penalty as maximum punishment. Khan has denied the charges under the anti-terrorism law, saying he was in detention when the violence took place. 
Khan’s convictions, which mean he is banned from holding public office, ruled the 71-year-old out of the February general elections. Arguably Pakistan’s most popular politician, Khan says all cases against him are motivated to keep him out of politics.

Topics: Bushra Bibi Imran Khan

Taliban reject Pakistan’s claim Afghan bomber involved in deadly attack on Chinese dam engineers

Updated 08 May 2024
Reuters
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Taliban reject Pakistan’s claim Afghan bomber involved in deadly attack on Chinese dam engineers

  • Afghan defense ministry says the killings of Chinese nationals reflected the weakness of Pakistan’s security agencies
  • Pakistan believes Kabul not doing enough to tackle militant groups, launched airstrikes targeting them in Afghanistan
Updated 08 May 2024
Reuters

KABUL: The Taliban defense ministry on Wednesday rejected Pakistan’s allegations that Afghans were involved in an attack on Chinese engineers, as ties between the neighboring nations sour amidst rising insecurity.
Pakistan’s military had said at a press conference on Tuesday that a suicide bomb attack in March in Pakistan’s northern Khyber Pakhtunkhwa province, that killed five Chinese engineers, was planned in neighboring Afghanistan, and that the bomber was an Afghan national.
“Afghans are not involved in such matters,” said Mufti Enayatullah Khorazmim, the spokesperson for Afghanistan’s Taliban-run Ministry of National Defense.
“Blaming Afghanistan for such incidents is a failed attempt to divert attention from the truth of the matter and we strongly reject it,” he added.
A suicide bomber rammed a vehicle into a convoy of Chinese engineers working on a dam project in northwest Pakistan in March, killing six people.
“The killing of Chinese citizens in an area of Khyber Pakhtunkhwa that is under tight security cover by the Pakistan Army shows the weakness of the Pakistani security agencies,” Khorazmim said.
Relations between Pakistan and Afghanistan have soured in recent months. Islamabad says Kabul is not doing enough to tackle militant groups targeting Pakistan and in March Pakistan carried out airstrikes targeting militants on Afghan territory.
Last year, Pakistan expelled nearly 370,000 undocumented Afghan nationals, saying the majority of suicide attacks against its security forces were carried out by Afghans, a charge Kabul rejected.
Pakistan’s military spokesman said on Tuesday that security for 29,000 Chinese nationals in Pakistan, many of them working on infrastructure projects, was the top priority for security institutions.
The Taliban are also seeking economic ties with China, the first country to formally appoint an ambassador to Kabul under the Taliban, and wish to join China-Pakistan Economic Corridor (CPEC), which is Beijing’s $65 billion investment in development and infrastructure.

Topics: Chinese nationals in Pakistan Pakistan Afghanistan

Scientists link intense rainfall to climate change after floods in Pakistan, UAE

Updated 08 May 2024
AFP
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Scientists link intense rainfall to climate change after floods in Pakistan, UAE

  • Climate experts say warmer oceans lead to greater evaporation and warmer air can hold more water vapor
  • Pakistan recorded double the amount of rainfall in April, while UAE received two years of rain in a single day
Updated 08 May 2024
AFP

PARIS: Floods have been tearing a path of destruction across the globe, hammering Kenya, submerging Dubai, and forcing hundreds of thousands of people from Russia to China, Brazil and Somalia from their homes.
Though not all directly attributed to global warming, they are occurring in a year of record-breaking temperatures and underscore what scientists have long warned – that climate change drives more extreme weather.
Climate change isn’t just about rising temperatures but the knock-on effect of all that extra heat being trapped in the atmosphere and seas.
April was the 11th consecutive month to break its own heat record, the EU climate monitor Copernicus said on Wednesday, while ocean temperatures have been off the charts for even longer.
“The recent extreme precipitation events are consistent with what is expected in an increasingly warmer climate,” Sonia Seneviratne, an expert on the UN-mandated IPCC scientific panel, told AFP.
Warmer oceans mean greater evaporation, and warmer air can hold more water vapor.
Scientists even have a calculation for this: for every one degree Celsius in temperature rise, the atmosphere can hold seven percent more moisture.
“This results in more intense rainfall events,” Davide Faranda, an expert on extreme weather at the French National Center for Scientific Research (CNRS), told AFP.
In April, Pakistan recorded double the amount of normal monthly rainfall — one province saw 437 percent more than average — while the UAE received about two years’ worth of rain in a single day.
This, however, doesn’t mean everywhere on Earth is getting wetter.
Richard Allan from the University of Reading said “a warmer, thirstier atmosphere is more effective at sapping moisture from one region and feeding this excess water into storms elsewhere.”
This translates into extreme rain and floods in some areas but worse heatwaves and droughts in others, the climate scientist told AFP.
Natural climate variability also influences weather and global rainfall patterns.
This includes cyclical phenomenon like El Nino, which tends to bring heat and rain extremes, and helped fuel the high temperatures seen over land and sea this past year.
While natural variability plays a role “the observed long-term global increase in heavy precipitation has been driven by human-induced climate change,” said Seneviratne.
Carlo Buontempo, a director at Copernicus, said cycles like El Nino ebb and flow but the extra heat trapped by rising greenhouse gas emissions would “keep pushing the global temperature toward new records.”
Considering the overlapping forces at play, attributing any one flood to climate change alone can be fraught, and each event must be taken on a case-by-case basis.
But scientists have developed peer-reviewed methods that allow for the quick comparison of an event today against simulations that consider a world in which global warming had not occurred.
For example, World Weather Attribution, the scientists who pioneered this approach, said the drenching of the UAE and Oman last month was “most likely” exacerbated by global warming caused by burning fossil fuels.
ClimaMeter, another rapid assessment network who use a different methodology, said major floods in China in April were “likely influenced” by global warming and El Nino.
“It can be difficult to disentangle global warming and natural variability” and some weather events are more clear-cut than others, said Flavio Pons, a climatologist who worked on the China assessment.
In the case of devastating floods in Brazil, however, ClimaMeter were able to exclude El Nino as a significant factor and name human-driven climate change as the primary culprit.
Many of the countries swamped by heavy floods at the moment — such as Burundi, Afghanistan and Somalia — rank among the poorest and least able to mobilize a response to such disasters.
But the experience in Dubai showed even wealthy states were not prepared, said Seneviratne.
“We know that a warmer climate is conducive to more severe weather extremes but we cannot predict exactly when and where these extremes will occur,” Joel Hirschi from the UK’s National Oceanography Center told AFP.
“Current levels of preparedness for weather extremes are inadequate... Preparing and investing now is cheaper than delaying action.”

Topics: Dubai Rains Pakistan Floods climate change

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