Pakistan Economy - News & Updates - Archive

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Zardari for using tourism as economic engine​

ISLAMABAD (September 27 2008): President Asif Ali Zardari has stressed for using tourism as a potential economic engine, and said it is important to maintain the standards of tourist industry, and save tourists and inhabitants from facing climatic changes.

"These climatic changes are a great challenge in the path of achieving international development targets," the President said in message on 'World Tourism Day' being observed throughout the world on (September 27) with the theme of supporting measures adopted to prevent sudden climatic changes. The President said Pakistan is contributing in the international efforts to counter the unusual climatic changes besides taking steps for promotion of tourism.

"The rich culture and the civilisations of Harappa, Moenjodaro and Gandhara which existed here, are a great source of attraction for the tourists. The Northern Areas are a tourist paradise, visited by thousands of tourists every year," he said. President Zardari said tourism in a way cannot only highlight the beautiful planet Earth, but also generate much-needed revenue which in turn can be used to manage the threat of global climate change.

He said being realised rather belatedly, climate change has the potential of radically changing people's lifestyle. The President said on the occasion of World Tourism Day, Pakistan, as member of the United Nations World Tourism Organisation (UNWTO), welcomes tourists from all over the world for visit.

 

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Gaddani beach: PTDC to develop tourist resort with world class facilities​

BEIJING (September 27 2008): Pakistan Tourism Development Corporation (PTDC) has got approval of three mega projects from its board of directors, including construction of a tourist resort with world class facilities at Gaddani beach located on border of Sindh-Balochistan provinces and two in Islamabad.

"The PTDC is very keen to develop tourism in Pakistan on most modern lines and there is a need to raise mega projects", the Managing Director of PTDC Brigadier Aman Ullah (Retd) said in an interview with APP here on Friday.

Highlighting these three important projects for the promotion of tourism in Pakistan, he said "luckily, we have a 172-acres piece of land at a prime location at Gaddani beach, on which PTDC to construct a beautiful hotel, develop a lush green golf course and most modern water sports facilities".

He said that when completed, the project would be the icon to attract a large number of tourists from Europe and other parts of the world. "I am sure that we would be able to develop this project within next two to three years to welcome a large number of tourists, with state of the art facilities to be ensured for them", he noted.

Likewise, he continued that PTDC has a 25-acre of plot in Islamabad, and we want to construct a Tourist Village on it. The plan envisages construction of a 3-star motel, comprising 300-rooms, so that maximum number of domestic and international tourists could stay there. He said that all allied facilities including swimming pool, shopping centre as well as most modern Theme Park would also be constructed on it.

The PTDC, he said has an other plot of 9-canal behind the Marriott Hotel and it plans to build a most modern office plaza on it to accommodate the offices of Ministry of Tourism and PTDC, while the remaining portions of it will be leased out to multi-nationals, as it will help to address the financial constraints of PTDC.

He made it clear that all three mega projects would be raised on Public-Private partnership, adding that he has already obtained permission of these projects from the board of directors. Brigadier Aman said that after approval, the PTDC has now handed over these projects to IPDF, an arm of Ministry of Finance that is responsible for preparation of feasibility report, inviting investors, calling construction companies, floating tenders and finally handing over these projects to the successful bidders.

The MD, PTDC said that foundation stone of this motel was laid by the Prime Minister Syed Yousuf Raza Gilani in 1994. But after a passage of over 14 years the project could not be completed.

Brigadier Aman said that on assuming the responsibility of PTDC he immediately paid the attention towards its completion and with the blessing of God it will be ready for inauguration sometime next month. "This will be a very beautiful and attractive tourist facility to be available for Karachiites", he observed.

 

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Wapda commissions Satpara Power House-2​

LAHORE (September 27 2008): Pakistan Water and Power Development Authority (Wapda) has successfully commissioned Satpara Power House-2 with an installed capacity of 8.72 mw in the vicinity of Skardu. According to a spokesman of the Authority, Satpara Power House-2, comprising two units of 4.36 mw each, will supply 52 million units of electricity to Skardu town, thus earning a revenue of Rs 208 million annually.

It is pertinent to mention that Satpara Power House-1 was commissioned in October last year and has already generated 4.3 million units of electricity so far. Total installed capacity of the project will become 17 mw after commissioning of Power House 3 and 4.

Satapara Power House 1 to 4 are amongst the components of Satpara Dam Multipurpose Project being executed by Wapda in Northern Areas. The project, in totality, is at the advanced stage of its completion. Besides generating electricity, it will also provide irrigation supplies for a total command area of 15,000 acres in addition to supply drinking water of 3.1 million gallon per day to Skardu town, the spokesman concluded.

 

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'Agriculture sector can pull out country from economic crisis'​

LAHORE (September 27 2008): Agriculture being largest sector of economy has potential to pull out the country form current economic crisis. This was said by Ahmad Ali Aulakh, Minister for Agriculture, Punjab while chairing meeting for providing agricultural implements, machinery at subsidised cost to farmers under ADP project.

The meeting was attended by Director General Agriculture (Field), Director General Agriculture (Extension), Director General Agriculture (Water Management) and Agricultural machinery manufactures in Punjab. The minister for Agriculture said that this particular sector is source of raw material for industry besides meeting food requirements of burgeoning population. He added that current government has taken a number of initiatives in very short time to promote mechanised farming and to enhance farmer's income in the province.

He said these initiatives and interventions including launching of Green Tractor Subsidy Scheme, provision of 13 different agricultural implements, machinery at subsidised rate and reducing bulldozers rent for land development from Rs 1200/- to Rs 560/- per hour will yield positive result to enhance agricultural productivity.

He underlined that applications received under Green Tractor Scheme are being scrutinised and 10000 tractors will be provided with subsidy of Rs 200,000 per tractor during current financial year. He further said that Agriculture Department Punjab launched effective drive to check fake, spurious and substandard pesticides during current Kharif and pesticides worth Rs 24 crore were recovered.

The minister for Agriculture requested agricultural machinery manufactures to reduce their profit margin for providing implements and machinery to farmers for which 55 crore rupees are being provided as subsidy by Punjab government. The minister reiterated that all measures will be taken to protect interests of all stakeholders, particular by the growers in Punjab.

 

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Benazir Tractor Scheme: ZTBL to distribute 25,000 tractors among farmers​

MULTAN (September 27 2008): Zarai Taraqiati Bank Limited (ZTBL) Chairman Muhammad Zaka Ashraf has said that Zarai Bank would introduce Benazir Tractor Scheme and would distribute 25,000 tractors among the farmers. It has already introduced on line banking in Punjab and now it would be expanded to Sindh and Rs 72 billion would be advanced to small farmers @ 8 percent mark-up while an effective action was being taken to recover Rs 75 billion from the chronic and influential defaulters.

Talking to newsmen at the residence of Dr Khalid Khokhar, Director of the ZTBL he said that Kissan Credit card will facilitate the farmers. He said that ZTBL has made elaborate arrangements to advance loans to farmers on soft terms and under "Green Tractor Scheme" of Punjab government.

He said that chief minister Punjab, to bring agricultural revolution, plans to provide a subsidy of Rs 200,000 each to 10,000 farmers across the province through computerised balloting for the purchase of tractor. He said remaining balance of the total cost of the tractor would be advanced by the ZTBL to the concerned manufacturers for onward distribution of tractor to farmers.

He said loans would be disbursed among the farmers on first come first serve basis subject to the completion of all formalities required for loaning. He said ZTBL would have to accommodate the major chuck of the total number of beneficiaries of this scheme because the procedure for grant of loan of ZTBL is simplified with low mark up as compared to cumbersome formalities of other commercial banks.

He said that a record amount of Rs 67 billion production loans would also be disbursed to farmers across the country at their doorsteps during the current fiscal year. He said that last year they disbursed a sum of Rs 67 billion in production loans to farmers, against a target of Rs 60 billion.

These loans were granted to farmers on first-come-first-serve basis under the one window operation, through a network of 342 branches spread across the country. He said foolproof arrangements had been made for transparent disbursal of the loans to farmers at their doorsteps, while various teams from the bank will pay surprise visits to bank branches to monitor the staff's performance in this regard.

Responding to a question about refusal of issuance of loans to farmers at some branches on the pretext of non-availability of funds, the chairman said that fund was made available to all branches on the basis of the number of local population.

 

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Wrong decisions caused economic downslide: Dr Salman ​

Sunday, September 28, 2008

LAHORE: Former federal finance minister Dr Salman Shah has said wrong decisions taken by the present regime has led to the economic meltdown and pointed to the cancellation of GDRs worth $4 billion of five public sector companies at a time when MCB raised $850 million by selling 20 per cent of its shares abroad.

Talking to The News, Dr Salman Shah said the rulers were begging around the world for an immediate relief of $4 to $5 billion while they were sitting on public assets worth over $425 billion.

He pointed out that the capital market, which was at its peak of 15,700 points in April, had crashed. At the boom time, he said, Global Depositary Receipts (a bank certificate issued in more than one country for shares in a foreign company) for National Bank, Habib Bank, Kot Addu Power Company and Pakistan State Oil were planned to be offered to foreign investors.

These GDRs and foreign exchange bond, which were cancelled by the new regime immediately after assuming power, were worth $4 billion, he added.

That money, he said, could have provided the government with required fiscal space, adding there would have been no need to borrow from the State Bank had the amount, equivalent to Rs250 billion, been realised.

Who took the decision to cancel the GDRs, he wondered and said when private sector bank MCB was able to sell 20 per cent of its shares at Rs470 to collect $850 million, then why public sector companies were stopped from offering their shares in foreign markets.

“Now share values of all these enterprises have melted by 40 to 50 per cent.” That one wrong decision had a cyclical impact on the entire economy, he added.

He said increased government borrowing from the central bank created inflationary pressures and the country was deprived of foreign exchange worth $4 billion which put pressure on foreign exchange reserves. The depletion of foreign reserves, he added, exerted pressure on the local currency.

He said negative economic indicators impacted the buoyant capital market which caved in as investors saw a bleak economic future of the country. The investors, he added, realised that the new regime had no economic plan.

He said besides losing foreign investments worth $4 billion the country also saw flight of capital worth a similar amount. He termed the handling of economy by the present regime ‘mismanagement of the highest order’ and said it would require a lot of efforts and prudent policies to take the economy out of the present mess.

Shah said the economic managers and their advisers were still following economic theories of the 20th century, adding “they do not understand the globalisation process which is taking place all around.”

He said the trade deficit was the result of high oil prices and the gap could be bridged with foreign inflows and selling of non-liquid government assets from which it was earning nothing. Exports would ultimately pick up after adjusting to new realities, he anticipated.

 

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Gwadar port faces hurdles ​

Sunday, September 28, 2008

ISLAMABAD: The government’s lack of political will and some hidden forces are the main hurdles in the way of fully operationalising the Gwadar deep-sea port, it is reliably learnt.

The port, which is the third deep-sea port in the country, was inaugurated in March 2005 by then president Pervez Musharraf and became operational in March this year when first ship carrying 52,000 tonnes of wheat from Canada berthed at the port.

“Without the federal government’s active support, the Gwadar port cannot be operational and it will remain a dream to make it a hub of activities in the area and an alternative port for the rest of the country,” said Muhammad Salim Khan, Secretary Ports and Shipping, when asked for comments.

The federal government provided not only funds but also infrastructure facilities to the two main ports in Karachi in the recent past, he said.

According to experts, the port would prove to be a trade corridor for central Asian states, China and the Gulf as 60 per cent trade of oil and gas is done through this route. China has provided 80 per cent of Gwadar port’s $248 million initial development cost.

“It is the political will of the government that can only make the port operational, otherwise it is not economically viable to ship imported goods from other ports of the world,” said a member of a committee formed by the Economic Coordination Committee to report on the economic viability of the port.

The ECC of the cabinet, after the request of Balochistan Chief Minister Nawab Aslam Raisani, directed the authorities concerned to allow one-third of total imported wheat to be shipped to Gwadar but later changed the decision saying that the allocation should be made after reviewing economic viability of the shipments. Finally, the ECC formed a committee to submit a report for making the port operational.

“None of the shipping companies and importers were ready to offer lower bids for shipments to the Gwadar port compared to the Port Qasim and Karachi Port thus leaving no option for the authorities but to receive imported commodities at the two main ports,” said another member of the committee.

Another problem for imported goods at Gwadar is that the importers need extra Rs2,200 per tonne to transport the goods from Gwadar to Karachi or to Quetta via Sukkur as infrastructure facilities were yet to be completed, the official added.

Putting aside all these reservations about the Gwadar port, the ports and shipping secretary said, “there was celebration in the town when first ship from Canada docked at the port last year and businesses like hotelling and other related activities were in full swing.”

Citing another hurdle in the way of Gwadar port, a national leader from Balohcistan was of the view that a powerful lobby from Karachi was mainly behind this to block it as it would hurt activities at the ports in Karachi.

 

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NAVTEC to impart training to Balochistan youth ​

Sunday, September 28, 2008

ISLAMABAD: The Federal government, under the directives of Prime Minister Syed Yousuf Raza Gilani, is paying special attention to improving the conditions of the people of Balochistan. To achieve this, the National Vocation and Technical Education Commission (NAVTEC), has already established its regional office in Quetta for imparting technical training to the youth of Balochistan.

Adnan A Khawaja, Chairman NAVTEC stated this while talking to Ayatullah Durrani, MNA from Balochistan, at his office in the Prime Minister’s Secretariat here on Saturday.

Khawaja told the MNA that technically trained youth will be given priority in filling vacant positions in various public and private industrial concerns not only in the country, but also in meeting the demand received from Arab and other foreign countries from time to time.

He informed the MNA that he would be personally visiting Balochistan after Eid-ul-Fitr to explore the areas where there was a genuine demand of opening institutes for technical and vocational training of the youth. He requested the MNA to identify the areas where the youth would be available for training in reasonable numbers. He said that NAVTEC has already provided funds for running some courses at the Balochistan Institute of Technical Education (BITE) with the cooperation of the Pakistan Army.

Earlier, Durrani, in his presentation, told the NAVTEC chairman that thousands of youth from Balochistan were available for technical training.

 

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Friends of Pakistan​

MAKE no mistake about it — this is Pakistan’s hour of economic reckoning. We need every friend we have ever had and every dollar we can possibly get. It seems then that the Friends of Pakistan forum, which will hold its first meeting in Abu Dhabi next month, could be the right tonic for our economic ills. But caution is in order. Pakistan is running out of dollars at an alarming rate. According to Agost Benard, an associate director at Standard & Poor’s, “The external liquidity position which is now the key concern is continuing to deteriorate rapidly.” What Mr Benard says matters because his agency can dramatically affect Pakistan’s ability to do business in the international market.

Economic analysts are worried by Pakistan’s current account deficit — last year it stood at $14bn, while in just July and August it ballooned to $2.6bn. With foreign exchange reserves standing at a paltry $8.8bn last week, Pakistan simply does not have the foreign currency to sustain the current account deficit. In the medium term, a current account deficit can be turned around by exporting more and importing less. In the short term, foreign aid is the only realistic chance of improvement. The problem is that foreign aid will likely come with strings attached — which will impose wrenching change on the average Pakistani. Through US Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice, the Friends of Pakistan forum has indicated that it is not keen to give Pakistan quick money on easy terms. “We are engaged with Pakistan through international financial institutions,” Ms Rice told the news media, and also mentioned the need for economic reform.

The IFIs have a fairly basic recipe for Pakistan: strip away subsidies, increase tax revenues and cut down the budget deficit. These are good, necessary steps that Pakistan must take in order to improve its long-term economic outlook. The problem is — and experience bears this out — that steps such as these taken in a panic follow a fairly predictable pattern: the cost of living for the poor is driven up, development expenditure is slashed and meaningful reform is shelved once the worst has passed. However, there are several reasons to give Pakistan the benefit of the doubt for now. First, there are international factors involved in Pakistan’s economy going sour — most notably the price of oil and food. Second, the economy is seized by the worst level of inflation in decades. Third, Pakistan has already done away with most subsidies and has planned to slash expenditure. Fourth, Pakistan is struggling to come to terms with a militancy threat that could destabilise the very foundations of the state. Surely the Friends of Pakistan must realise how much more costly it would be to rescue Pakistan later were money to be delayed right now.

 

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SBP injects Rs 37.65bn into money market​

KARACHI: The central bank on Saturday injected Rs 37.65 billion into the money market through 9-day reverse repo. On last Thursday, there was a maturity of Rs 98 billion in the money market, out of which the central bank picked Rs 35.266 billion through T-bills auction. The central bank is continuously supporting the money market by injections to counter short liquidity position faced by the commercial banks. The dealers demand Rs 40.15 billion repo from the State Bank. “This may be the last injection of the central bank,” said a money market expert. Banks’ customers are withdrawing huge amounts from their accounts on account of eid shopping The overnight rate stayed at 12.90 percent in the money market, the expert said.

 

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Govt to train labour force for nuclear power schemes​

* Project to cost Rs 491.42 million​

ISLAMABAD: For completion of different nuclear-related power generation schemes, the government has planned to produce high skilled labour with emphasis on learning technical Chinese and industrial training in China.

The project, namely ‘Developing manpower to meet the requirements of the Pakistan Atomic Energy Commission (PAEC) nuclear power programme’, will cost the government Rs 491.42 million with Rs 166.70 million as Foreign Exchange Component (FEC).

The PAEC will be the executing agency of the capacity building project. The trained personnel under the propose project will be adjusted against approved posts of others projects of the PAEC.

Meeting the target of generating 8,800MW nuclear capacity by 2030 would require trained and qualified professionals to collaborate in the design and construction of almost 10 nuclear power plants.

Practically, it amounts to allowing 200-250 professional per plant and an overhead of about 600-800 centrally placed professionals to participate in the project management, design, engineering construction, and installation of the nuclear power plants. Presently, the available manpower for this purpose is less than 150 persons.

In addition to meeting the urgent requirement of the manpower, main purpose of the scheme was to provide to these individuals sufficient competency in the Chinese Language to enable them to communicate with the vendors and manufacturers in China. Other goal of the project was to provide them some on-the-job hands-on training in the Chinese nuclear industry specially those related to manufacturing.

Under this project, the government plans to recruit 400 persons in the next five years at the rate of about 80 persons per year and keep them under training for a period of 20 months. The training programme of these people will primarily consist of teaching them Technical Chinese language. According to sources, the services of NU ML and language specialists will be used for this purpose. These personnel will also be provided some nuclear power plant orientation and those who do well in Chinese language and in orientation courses (top two third of the total) will be sent for on-the-job training in China for up to four months depending upon their areas of expertise and the availability of the training location.

The government has allocated token money of Rs 15 million in the Public Sector Development Program 2008-09. During construction of nuclear power plant CHASNUPP unit-1 (C-1) and another similar unit (C-2) is under construction at the Chashma site, the PAEC personnel have gained some knowledge of the Chinese language. However, in depth knowledge of technical Chinese language is required to negotiate contracts of several nuclear power plants (costing billion of dollars) with the Chinese in a successful and convenient manner. The Energy Security Action Plan (ESAP) envisages electricity requirements to increase from the installed capacity of 19681 MW in 2007 to some 162000 MW by the year 2030. It is planned to increase the nuclear power generation capacity to 8800 MW by the year 2030.

 

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'Political will' crucial to tax reforms: World Bank​

ISLAMABAD (September 28 2008): The World Bank has conveyed to the Federal Board of Revenue that 'political will' is crucial to tax reforms in Pakistan, as lack of political backing is hampering reforms in tax administration. Sources told Business Recorder on Saturday that the World Bank has recently completed a review of the Tax Administration Reform Project (Tarp).

In this connection, the WB mission had meetings with the Ministry of Finance and FBR. During presentation of the World Bank, it has been pointed out that tax collection would not be substantially improved unless and until political leadership is serious about reforming the tax machinery. The FBR should also bring structural changes in the tax administration under the reform program.

Explaining the structural changes and distortions in the tax system, sources said that the potential sectors of economy are contributing nothing in the form of taxes. The revenue collection would not improve unless these distortions in the tax system are not removed.

Textile industry with zero-rated sales tax is a clear violation of the Value Added Tax (VAT) regime. The FBR failed to control inadmissible refunds in leading sectors, which forced the department to zero-rate the entire textile sector. The zero-rating of five major export-oriented sectors is the biggest violation of standard sales tax system. The completion of VAT chain is not possible till all the potential sectors start paying sales tax.

Another major area ie agriculture income is also not taxable pointing towards serious flaws in the taxation system where major sectors were neglected in the past. Sources said that the withdrawal of sales tax and income tax exemptions are needed to ensure level playing field for all industries and sectors. On the whole, 64 percent of potential revenue is being collected from the manufacturing sector and 57 percent from mining and quarrying sector.

Whereas the services sector contributes only 13 percent of its potential, the contribution of agriculture sector is far too low. The services sector presents a gloomy picture. In fact, except for few subsectors like telecom, finance and insurance, electricity and gas distribution, and sale maintenance and maintenance of motor vehicles, the remaining services sector has negligible tax contribution. Break-up of direct and indirect taxes in the services sector showed that barring finance and insurance and other services, no other sub-sector makes any significant direct tax contribution.

The revenue collected from construction, transport, storage and communication, sale, maintenance of motor vehicles and hotels and restaurants remains frightening below their respective potential. While this situation improves slightly when indirect taxes are considered, but overall contribution of the services sector is extremely low.

The services sector has always been a difficult-to-tax area, but a mechanism has to be developed to improve collection from this potential sector. Tax administration cannot ignore this sector whose overall contribution to GDP is over 50 percent and this share is growing with the passage of time, sources added.

 

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Foreign investors withdraw $3.681 million from KSE​

KARACHI (September 28 2008): Foreign investors opted to offload their holdings and withdrew $3.681 million from the Karachi share market during the outgoing week that ended on September 25, 2008. According to National Clearing Company of Pakistan Limited (NCCPL) data, the cumulative figure of this mode of investment has reached negative $351.231 million during the current year from January 1 to September 25, 2008.

"The main cause of continuous outflow of foreign portfolio investment was prevailing political uncertainty, deteriorating economic indicators and depreciating PKR value, which forced the offshore investors to offload their holdings," analysts said.

The foreign investors adopted cautious stance from the start of the week and remained net seller of share worth $27,514 on Monday. Panic selling by foreign investors was witnessed on Tuesday $4,414,678 were withdrawn from the share market on the second day of the week.

On Wednesday, the situation slightly improved and a fresh inflow of portfolio investment of $386,022 was witnessed at the share market. This trend continued and another net inflow of $375,129 was witnessed on Thursday. The market remained closed on Friday due to Jumma-tul-Widda.

 

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Government will focus more on privatisation policy: Gilani​

KARACHI (September 28 2008): Prime Minister Syed Yousuf Raza Gilani on Saturday said the government will focus more on privatisation policy, which has been initiated with the sale of a fertiliser factory.Addressing the business community at Iftar dinner hosted by Sindh Governor Dr Ishratul Ibad Khan at Governor House.

The Prime Minister said that the government is committed to taking necessary steps to improve law and order situation to boost economic activities in the country. The State Bank Governor, Planning Commission Deputy Chairman, Sindh Chief Minister, Sindh Assembly Speaker, federal and provincial ministers and large number of dignitaries from business community attended the programme. He noted that Karachi is the hub of the country's economy and the government realises the importance of this mega city.

He said the government also realises that stable political system is necessary to boost economic activities in the country and despite having majority, People's Party decided to form coalition governments in the centre and also all provinces. "Actually we wanted to revive the confidence of the business community that the government is stable and they can do their businesses with full courage," he added.

He assured the business community that the government will listen to their problems and will try to solve them. "The government is committed to providing them a peaceful environment to run their businesses," he said. He asked the business community to join hands with the government to curb extremism so that economic activities could pick up in the country.

The Prime Minister pointed out that the present government has taken many unpopular decisions to put the country's economy on right track. The Prime Minister said there in no clash between the government institutions. The parliament is supreme and all the institutions were working under a democratic system, he added.

He pointed out that the government was working on a three-pronged policy to improve law and order situation in the northern parts of the country. Firstly, he said the government wants dialogue with the peace-loving elements in those areas.

The government wants to bring them in the mainstream politics to eliminate their sense of deprivation. Secondly, the government wants to improve the life standard of the people of tribal areas with providing them better health and education facilities. The government also wants to provide more job opportunities to the people of tribal areas. Finally, he said, the government will take serious action against those who are challenging the writ of the government.

The Prime Minister said now the people of tribal areas are joining hands with the government and setting up their 'Lashkars' to curb extremism in tribal areas. Earlier, Sindh Governor Dr Ishratul Ibad Khan, in his address of welcome said the government was facing challenges of extremism and terrorism.

He said that a number of business community leaders met the Prime Minister and informed him about their problems and their concerns about the country's deteriorating economy. "We all - the government, people and business community will have to join hands to face all challenges," Gilani added.

 

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Pakistan keen to promote economic collaboration with China​

ISLAMABAD (September 28 2008): Foreign Minister, Makhdoom Shah Mahmood Qureshi has said that Pakistan is keen to promote economic collaboration with China and is aiming to raise the bilateral trade from $7 billion to $15 billion by 2011. He stated this during his meeting with the Chinese Foreign Minister Yang Jeichi on the sidelines of the 63rd UN General Assembly session, says a Foreign Office statement here on Saturday.

Qureshi said that he was looking forward to visit China with President Asif Ali Zardari in the middle of October. The President valued China's friendship, which was demonstrated by his decision to send his son for the opening ceremony of the Olympic Games, he said.

Chinese Foreign Minister Yang Jeichi said that China was proud to have assisted Pakistan and had done its best to advance co-operation. China would endeavour to continue this co-operation in the future as well. He said that China attached great importance to the PPP government's commitment to promote friendly relations with China.

The Chinese government, he underlined, was concerned about the security of its nationals in Pakistan. China appreciated the complexity of the matter and the efforts made by the Pakistan government for their safe release.

Foreign Minister Qureshi assured the Chinese Foreign Minister that the safety of Chinese nationals was important to Pakistan and it will do everything to ensure their protection. Meanwhile, Makhdoom Shah Mahmood Qureshi also called on Foreign Minister of Ireland, T D Martin on the sidelines of the 63rd session of the UN General Assembly in New York. The Foreign Minister appreciated the award conferred by Ireland on Shaheed Mohtarama Benazir Bhutto. She had visited Ireland in 1994 and wanted to cultivate close relations with it.

The Foreign Minister requested the Irish Foreign Minister to open its embassy in Pakistan, which would give further impetus to the bilateral relations. He also requested the Irish Foreign Minister to encourage investment by Irish companies in Pakistan.

He invited Ireland to participate in the Food Technology and Agricultural Show, Expo 2008 and the Ideas exhibition. He said that Irish companies were already present in Pakistan in several fields including the power sector and oil exploration. He said as part of its Asia strategy, Ireland wished to develop strong economic relations with Pakistan. He felt that Pakistanis were playing a prominent role in Ireland and welcomed their presence in the country.