KARACHI, Jul 04 (APP): Chief Minister Sindh, Syed Murad Ali Shah met the 36 athletes of Sindh who participated in the Berlin Special Olympics here on Tuesday.
According to the spokesman of the Sindh Chief Minister, the players of the Special Olympics were dressed in green shirts.
Chief Minister Sindh met the athletes of the Special Olympics by going to their seats and praising their performance in Special Olympics.
The Athletes’ delegation was headed by Special Olympics coach Iram, Qamar and Benish Javed.
Speaking on this occasion, Chief Minister said that necessary steps will be taken for the promotion of Special Olympics athletes.
Pakistan participated in 11 different sports in Berlin Special Olympics, Sindh Chief Minister was informed.
These sports include athletics, badminton, basketball, hockey, table tennis, swimming and other games.
Pakistan team won 10 gold medals, 29 silver medals and 40 bronze medals in Special Olympics.
Chief Minister Sindh heard this and encouraged the players by clapping hands.
Syed Murad Ali Shah said that the Sindh government will construct a special ground for Special Olympics and also issued instructions to Social Welfare Minister Sajid Jokhio, Chief Secretary Mohammad Sohail Rajput and Special Assistant Arbab Lutufullah to make arrangements for the purpose.
He said that he wants to provide world-class sports facilities for Special Olympics.
The CM also announced to giving of a job to Special Olympic child Safeer Abid in the Chief Minister’s House.
Safeer Abid is a cyclist and also works well in the IT sector, the spokesman said.
ISLAMABAD, Jul 4 (APP): Huawei, the global technology leader, showcased its latest innovations in ICT services and software at the Mobile World Congress (MWC) Shanghai 2023 aimed to empower industrial intelligent digital transformation in collaboration with global carriers and industrial partners.
Vice President of Huawei’s Global Technical Service Department Bruce Xun while addressing the MWC Shanghai 2023 emphasized that by innovating ICT service and software solutions, Huawei will continue to work alongside global carriers to build green, efficient, and robust networks that provide the ultimate experience, chart new growth curves, develop the intelligent digital talent of the future, and drive industrial intelligent digital transformation to create an intelligent world that prioritizes ultimate user experience.
Embracing the dual-E (Energy and Experience) concept, Huawei is committed to promoting a low-carbon circular economy with green and low-carbon target networks.
In the second half of 2022, Huawei initiated a project to reconstruct the sites and equipment rooms of China Mobile Shandong.
As of June 2023, the impact of this project has been substantial, with a total energy savings of 10.6+ million kWh and a reduction in carbon emissions of 3720+ tons, which is equivalent to planting about 200,000 trees.
The explosive growth of computing power requirements has led to a sharp increase in AI computational capacity, accompanied by a dynamic surge in energy consumption. Shenyang AI Computing Center was successfully launched in just six months, achieving a high level of computing density while maintaining exceptional energy efficiency.
In Q2 of 2023, Huawei efficiently upgraded the center’s computing power from 100P to 300P, resulting in sustained and efficient business growth for the customer.
Huawei’s AUTIN solution facilitated the O&M transformation of China Mobile Tianjin’s B2B services. AUTIN ensured a guaranteed user experience, which substantially improved China Mobile Tianjin’s private line user satisfaction, ranking it among the top 10 in the China Mobile group nationwide.
AUTIN implements proactive service quality monitoring through multi-vendor cross-domain service topology restoration, facilitating the identification of potential network risks up to 12 hours in advance.
AUTIN has also significantly reduced the average fault diagnosis duration from hours to a few minutes and improved service availability by an impressive 15%.
China Mobile Shanghai is dedicated to constructing high-performance networks that provide superior user experience and drive business success. With the implementation of Huawei’s innovative technologies, including multi-carrier dual-layer beam adjustment, SRCON wireless channel simulation, and scenario-based network optimization, China Mobile Shanghai has achieved the top spot in the MIIT benchmark ranking for two consecutive years.
Huawei’s Smart Decision solution has enhanced the marketing efficiency of China Mobile Shanghai and facilitated coordination between its marketing and network departments in marketing activities such as the promotion of the 700M devices, VoNR, and second SIM slots.
As a result, China Mobile Shanghai has experienced a sustainable increase in its 5G user penetration rate and 5G traffic ratio as well as service revenue compared to previous years.
The cloud-native Convergent Billing Solution (CBS) is a comprehensive billing solution designed specifically for carriers, offering a full-stack heterogeneous platform with 99.9999% reliability. With CBS, carriers can drive innovation in subscription packages, streamline operations, and accelerate time-to-value.
Huawei’s next-generation Mobile Money solution offers customers with a comprehensive suite of mobile wallets, mobile payment, and mobile financial services.
Following an 18-month collaboration with Huawei, bank K in Asia Pacific has emerged as the largest financial service provider in the local market and maintained this position for four consecutive years.
With its advanced features such as omni-channel access, all-scenario intelligence, high reliability, and large capacity, the AICC has played a significant role in reducing the overall OPEX of China Unicom’s 10010 customer service center by 16.5%.
Intelligent digital transformation is a multifaceted process that involves technological advancements and the development of digital talent.
China Mobile Zhejiang has collaborated with Huawei to establish a digital talent maturity model, devise strategies for digital talent development, and offer digital leadership coaching to 130+ managers. This partnership has resulted in the reskilling and upskilling of over 4000 technical employees.
At the conclusion of the conference, Bruce Xun reaffirmed Huawei’s commitment to developing cutting-edge ICT services and software solutions through continuous innovation. As a trusted partner, Huawei is committed to working collaboratively with global customers to create an intelligent world that prioritizes the ultimate user experience.
ISLAMABAD, July 4 (APP): Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif on Tuesday called for a joint action by the member states of the Shanghai Cooperation Organization (SCO) to address the common challenges of economic recession, terrorism, and climate change.
“The SCO represents a promising future only if we seize the opportunity to achieve the shared goals for the region’s peace and prosperity,” he said in his virtual address to the 23rd Meeting of the SCO Council of Heads of State (CHS).
The invitation to Prime Minister Sharif to attend the SCO-CHS, which was held in a video conference format, was extended by the prime minister of India in his capacity as the current Chair of the SCO. Chinese President Xi Jinping, Russian President Vladimir Putin, Indian prime minister Narendra Modi, United Nations Secretary-General Antonio Guterres, Kazakhstan’s President Kassym-Jomart Tokayev, Tajikistan’s President Emomali Rahmon, Uzbekistan’s President Shavkat Mirziyoyev, and Iranian President Ebrahim Raisi joined the virtual moot among other leaders of the observer states.
PM Sharif said the SCO leaders were meeting at a critical juncture as the world faced socio-economic challenges. He stressed that the regional organization could play the role of “beacon of peace, stability, and progress”.
Terming regional connectivity a defining feature of the modern economy, he emphasized focusing on investment in this area as a “vehicle of peace and prosperity”.
He mentioned that China Pakistan Economic Corridor, a flagship project of the Belt and Road Initiative, could become a game-changer of progress in view of Pakistan’s location connecting the region.
He announced that Pakistan was planning to host a regional connectivity conference in the last quarter of the current year.
On terrorism and extremism, the prime minister said the “monster” must be fought with vigour and determination by all SCO states.
He pointed out that diplomatic point-scoring must be avoided by all countries and said that all forms of terrorism, including State terrorism, must be condemned.
“There is no justification for killing people. Also, the religious minorities should not be marginalized in the garb of political agenda,” he said.
Sharif said the SCO countries must take concerted actions against terrorism, extremism, and separatism both in their national capacities and also under the framework of SCO-RATS (Regional Anti-Terrorist Structure).
Terming peace and security a common concern, he said stability in Afghanistan was critical to achieving the common objective.
He highlighted the impending grave humanitarian crisis and economic meltdown in Afghanistan, which he said, needed urgent corrective measures by the interim Afghan government and the international community.
On climate-induced disasters, the prime minister said the situation demanded global solidarity as it was the time to act “now and immediately”.
He mentioned that Pakistan, during the last year’s flash floods, faced the “horrors of climate change”, leading to 1,700 deaths and economic losses worth $30 billion.
Sharif said poverty alleviation must be a priority in the wake of economic recession.
On Islamophobia, he said peace and communal harmony were the need of the hour. He emphasized adhering to the resolutions of the UN Security Council to settle the issues amicably before it was too late.
The prime minister expressed Pakistan’s resolve to play a positive and constructive role in making SCO an effective regional organization.
He thanked India for its stewardship of SCO during the past year and congratulated Kazakhstan for assuming the chair for the next year. He congratulated the President of Iran on his country’s inclusion in the organization as a full member.
At the CHS, the SCO leaders approved 14 important documents, including the New Delhi Declaration, which articulated the collective stance of SCO Member States on strategic and geopolitical issues of common interest.
They also adopted two joint statements on Strategies to Counter Radicalization Leading to Terrorism, Extremism and Separatism; and Cooperation in Digital Transformation; as well as the SCO Economic Development Strategy.
The CHS also approved the accession of Iran to the SCO as full member and initiated the process for full membership of Belarus.
The meeting provided an important opportunity for Pakistan to share its priorities for the future direction of the Organization.
Since becoming a Member of the SCO in 2017, Pakistan has been actively participating in all SCO activities and has made constructive contributions towards achieving SCO’s multi-sectoral objectives under various SCO mechanisms.
UNITED NATIONS, Jul 04 (APP): The United Kingdom intends to try and speed up the slow-moving process of United Nations Security Council reform by raising the issue at the 15-member Council as a priority item under its presidency for the month of July, Ambassador Barbara Woodward said Monday.
“I recognize that it has been a very frustrating process,” The UK envoy said as she briefed UN correspondents on the programme of work of the Security Council for the month.
The reform process, known as Intergovernmental Negotiations (IGN), ended its meetings for the current 77th session after making some progress, and then for the 25th time rolled over the negotiations to the next session, which begins in September.
One of the impediments to advancing the reforms is the inability of member states to adopt a text on which to base the negotiations because of the lack of consensus on key issues.
Ambassador Woodward said that UK backed moving to text-based negotiations, but acknowledged that “There wasn’t enough support for that to make immediate progress.”
She said that she had been in contact with IGN co-facilitators who led the reform process, Permanent Representatives Tareq AlBanai of Kuwait and Alexander Marschik of Austria, and “I know that they’ve tried very hard indeed but there is such a wide range of views that it seems very difficult indeed, to make progress”.
The UK envoy said, “We want to see the expansion of the Council’s permanent seats to include India, Brazil, Germany and Japan and African representation. It’s high time the Council entered the 2020s,” In this regard, Ms. Woodward referred to remarks by UK Foreign Secretary James Cleverly last week in which he announced the UK’s ambition to drive forward reform of the multilateral system.
A correspondent pointed out that the Italy/Pakistan-led Uniting for Consensus (UfC) group opposes any expansion in the permanent category on the ground that it would make the Council unworkable, Ms. Woodward said, “U.K’s position on the UN Security Council reform has been out in the front for a long time now.”
Questioned about U.K’s choice of the four countries as permanent members, she said that it had to do with geographic balance and recognizing their rising influence.
Last week, Pakistan’s UN Ambassador Munir Akram told an IGN meeting that progress has indeed been made during the current session.
“The IGN has held constructive discussions this year on all the five interlinked ‘clusters’ of issues on Security Council reform,” Ambassador Akram said, adding, “As evident … the areas of convergence have been broadened, and divergences have been further reduced…”
Full-scale negotiations to reform the Security Council began in the General Assembly in February 2009 on five key areas — the categories of membership, the question of veto, regional representation, size of an enlarged Security Council, and working methods of the council and its relationship with the General Assembly.
Despite a general agreement on enlarging the Council, as part of the UN reform process, member states remain divided over the details.
The so-called Group of Four — India, Brazil, Germany and Japan — who seek for themselves permanent seats on the Council have shown no flexibility in their campaign for expanding the Council by 10 seats, with six additional permanent and four non-permanent members.
On the other hand, the UfC group, which firmly opposes additional permanent members, has proposed a new category of members — not permanent members — with longer duration in terms and a possibility to get re-elected.
The Security Council is currently composed of five permanent members — Britain, China, France, Russia and the United States — and 10 non-permanent members elected to serve for two years.
In his remarks last week, Ambassador Akram said the UfC continues to believe, together with other Groups, the need to reach agreement on the “principles” of reform in all 5 Clusters in order to begin formulating a text on the Security Council reform which has a chance of securing the “widest possible acceptance of Member States”.
Pakistan, like other UfC members, he said, looks forward to continuing its constructive participation in the IGN process at the next session. “This is the only agreed and accepted modality to promote Security Council reform; It would be unwise to disrupt the IGN process by advancing new modalities and precipitate initiatives.”
ISLAMABAD, Jul 4 (APP):The trade deficit witnessed a decline of 43.03 percent during the fiscal year 2022-23 as compared to the previous year (2021-22), Pakistan Bureau of Statistics (PBS) reported.
The trade deficit during July-June (2022-23) was recorded at $27.547 billion against the deficit of $48.354 billion in July-June (2021-22), a decline of 43.03 percent.
The exports during the period were recorded at $27.744 billion against $31.782 billion last year, showing a decline of 12.71 percent.
On the other hand, the imports witnessed a sharp decline of 31 percent by falling from $80.136 billion last year to $55.291 billion during the fiscal year 2022-23.
On a year-on-year basis, the exports from the country witnessed a decline of 18.72 percent and were recorded at $2.366 billion in June 2023 against the exports of $2.911 billion in June 2022.
The imports also decreased to $4.180 billion in June 2023 from $7.857 billion in June 2022, showing negative growth of 46.80 percent.
On a month-on-month basis, the exports during June 2023 however increased by 7.55 percent when compared to the exports of $2.200 billion in May 2023.
The imports into the country declined by 3.42 percent in June 2023 when compared to the imports of $4.328 billion in May 2023, according to the data.
Meanwhile, the deficit in services trade declined by 88.26 percent during the first eleven month of fiscal year (2022-23) compared to the corresponding period of last fiscal year. The services trade deficit was recorded at $607.67 million against the deficit of $5,175.24 million last year.
The services exports during the period increased by 3.38 percent by going up from $6,438.33 million in 2021-22 to $6,655.82 million in first eleven month of FY2022-23, according to PBS data.
On the other hand, the imports declined from $11,613.57 million to $7,263.49 million in FY2023, showing negative growth of 37.46 percent.
ISLAMABAD, Jul 4 (APP):Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif on Tuesday directed the Gilgit-Baltistan and Army authorities to immediately rescue mountaineer Asif Bhatti who reportedly got trapped at 7500 meters height while scaling the 8,126-meter Nanga Parbat peak.
The directives came after the mountaineer’s son appealed to the prime minister on social media for safe evacuation of his stranded father.
Shehbaz Sharif instructed the Chief Secretary Gilgit Baltistan to contact Asif Bhatti’s son and assure him of immediate measures for the stuck up climber’s rescue.
BEIJING, Jul 4 (APP): China and Pakistan will step up efforts to jointly explore a new path of silage harvesting and processing in Pakistan, as the two sides agreed on a meeting held last Wednesday to promote the joint research and outcome commercialization of small and medium-sized silage harvesting equipment in mountainous and hilly areas of China and Pakistan.
At the meeting that took place in Lanzhou, China, it was announced that China will help Pakistan in the livestock sector by establishing a test and demonstration base, donating agricultural machinery and equipment worth 1.5 million yuan, and training a professional team for the R&D and design of silage harvesting and processing machinery and a group of technicians for the operation, use and maintenance of the machinery for Pakistan.
According to China Economic Net (CEN), the project, undertaken by Gansu Academy of Mechanical Sciences Co., Ltd., aims to enhance the mechanized operation, efficiency and economic benefits of Pakistan’s agricultural production, and the export competitiveness of its silage.
Since the project was launched in 2018, the team has been studying the key technologies suitable for Pakistan in terms of silage harvesting and processing, sealing reliability of wrap film, mechanical properties of wrap film and shearing characteristics of corn.
So far, four kinds of harvesting and processing equipment suitable for silage production under different conditions in mountainous and plain areas of Pakistan were developed, namely, silage harvesting equipment, mounted silage harvester, efficient silage processing machinery, and silage strapping press baler. According to the requirements of silage production, two production lines were designed respectively for small-scale silage production in mountainous and hilly areas and large-scale silage production in plain areas.
“Mechanization in agriculture farm reduces cost by enabling efficient use of inputs including water, seeds, pesticides and fertilizers. It also reduces spoilage and harvest losses”, said Mr. Muhammad Ismail, ecosystem specialist at the International Centre for Integrated Mountain Development (ICIMOD), an intergovernmental knowledge and learning center.
 Following the meeting, Pakistani experts visited the agricultural machinery and equipment production base of Gansu Academy of Mechanical Sciences Co., Ltd., where the agricultural machinery and equipment to be demonstrated and promoted in Pakistan were displayed and introduced.
UNITED NATIONS, Jul 04 (APP): A new strategy is expected to set global shipping on an ambitious path towards phasing out greenhouse gas emissions, top United Nations officials said at the opening of the latest session of the Marine Environment Protection Committee (MEPC) in London on Monday, according to a UN statement.
“Humanity is in dangerous waters on climate,” UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres said in a video message at the start of MPEC’s latest session.
“Science tells us it is still possible to limit global temperature rise to 1.5 °C, but it requires an immense and immediate global effort, and shipping, which accounts for almost three per cent of global emissions, will be vital.”
The decisions “you take over the coming days could help us chart a safer course”, he said, urging Committee members to agree on a strategy forward.
Tasked with addressing environmental issues under the remit of the International Maritime Organization (IMO), the Committee tackles such issues as the control and prevention of ship-source pollution covered by the International Convention for the Prevention of Pollution from Ships (MARPOL), including oil, chemicals carried in bulk, sewage, garbage, and such emissions from ships as air pollutants and greenhouse gas emissions.
Gathering from 3 to 7 July to review ongoing efforts, the Committee is expected to adopt a greenhouse gas emissions strategy in response to climate change and threats to biodiversity, following meetings with IMO.
“This is a historic moment in which all of you have a role to play,” IMO Secretary-General Kitack Lim said, encouraging States to help roll out the new strategy by forging ambitious targets that will put shipping on a “clear trajectory” to phase out greenhouse gas emissions.
“The 2023 strategy will be your legacy, for which your children and grandchildren will be grateful,” he said. “The time for IMO to demonstrate its global leadership is now.”
The revised strategy is expected to set out the way forward for possible technical and economic measures to be further developed by IMO.
Underlining the importance of concrete legal measures to protect biodiversity, he recalled that nearly two decades of discussion had led to the landmark Convention on Biodiversity (CBD), adopted at the UN headquarters on 19 June 2023.
Together, with the Kunming-Montreal Global Framework for Biodiversity, adopted last December and ongoing negotiations for a new legally binding instrument to tackle plastic pollution, he said: “there is no doubt that your Committee’s efforts to ensure a greener, more equitable and more sustainable maritime future is of greater importance than ever before”.
