MIRPUR, Feb 19 (APP):AJK President Sardar Masood Khan said on Monday that the rich human resource and educated youth were the true assets of the nation.
He made these remarks while addressing the Annual Sports Distribution Ceremony held at the Chella Bandi Campus of University of Azad Jammu and Kashmir on Monday.
The President said sports play an important role in the physical wellbeing and mental growth of the students. He said by promoting sports and extracurricular activities, the inclination of students towards
negative and unhealthy activities could be checked.
Masood emphasized that playing sports inculcates positive character traits like teamwork, confidence, organization, and punctuality. He said successful nations invest heavily in sporting
infrastructures and facilities for their youth. Similar steps will also be taken in AJK, he added.
President Masood Khan said that modern sports facilities would be built in educational institutions throughout the state and in the future, our universities will be able to host national and international
sporting events, he said. He added that an athlete is the best ambassador for any country.
The President also said that a 10 room hostel dedicated for lodging of athletes participating in sports events at the University will also be built at the King Abdullah Campus.
On the occasion, the President while acknowledging the young cricketer from Rawalakot who had been selected to play for the Lahore Qalandars in the Pakistan Super League (PSL) said that we hope in the coming years more players from AJK are also selected to play in such prestigious leagues and represent Pakistan at the international level. The President also hoped that soon AJK will have its own team in PSL.
Expressing his resolve for providing quality academic and co-curricular facilities at the universities of AJK, the President said, “We are striving for the holistic development of our Universities and
will bring them at par with national and regional universities.”
Congratulating the students on their achievements, the President also urged them to focus on their field of studies by pursuing academic excellence. He said that in the changing economic and echnological
landscape the students must polish their skills and prepare themselves for the dynamic job market.

ISLAMABAD, Feb 19 (APP):Speaker National Assembly Sardar Ayaz Sadiq and Deputy Speaker Murtaza Javed Abbasi Monday condoled the sad demise of grandmother of member National Assembly Nawabzada Raja Matloob Mehdi.
In their separate condolence messages, both of them expressed their heartfelt grief and sorrow over the sad demise of his grandmother, a press release said.
They prayed to Almighty Allah to rest the departed soul in eternal peace and grant courage to the bereaved family to bear the loss with equanimity.

ISLAMABAD, Feb 19 (APP):A delegation of Asian Development Bank (ADB) lead by Director General Central and West Asia Department (CWRD) Werner E. Liepach called on Secretary Benazir Income Support Programme (BISP), Omar Hamid Khan here on Monday.
DG ADB appreciated different initiatives of BISP and acknowledged its efforts for graduating vulnerable women out of poverty.
He especially praised the new projects being launched by BISP including the Graduation Model and assured ADB’s full support in this regard.
ADB has an agreement with BISP under which nearly $396 million are being provided to ensure the social safety of most vulnerable women of Pakistan.
Secretary BISP appreciated the long standing institutional collaboration between ADB and BISP, and added that the collaboration has now matured into a structured and meaningful engagement. He said that ADB project enabled BISP to expand its cash transfer program by registering additional eligible families.
The secretary congratulated Werner E. Liepach on his promotion and assumption of charge as the Director General ADB Central and West Asia Department.
He further added that he looks forward to support from ADB in the up scaling efforts of graduation model.
The BISP Board recently approved two graduation components i.e. Business Incubation for Self – Employment (BISE) and Direct Cash.
Their key features include profiling of targeted households for self-employment, provision of technical skill trainings to selected beneficiaries, Micro Investment Plan (MIP) and income generating grants for business start-ups.
A total of 100,000 households will be covered under the graduation model. The three types of graduation options include PKR 70,000 for voluntarily giving up UCT for 4 years, PKR 54,000 for voluntarily giving up UCT for 3 years and PKR 54,000 for voluntarily giving up UCT for 4 years.
The Research and Evaluation costs will be funded by Gates Foundation. Initially, two pilot projects will be tested in 14 districts where NSER is completed.
It was also informed that 5 districts (Bahawalpur, Charsadda, Jacobabad, Nasirabad and Ketch) are selected for Business Incubation for Self Employment and 3 districts (Faisalabad, Chakwal and Lakki Marwat) for Direct Cash component.
Implementation will be carried out by BISP through its regional & Tehsil Offices.
The two components will be implemented from March 2018 to December 2020. The scaling-up of the project is expected to start from September 2018 onwards.

ABBOTTABAD, Feb 19(APP)::Deputy Speaker National Assembly Murtaza Javed Abbasi Monday expressed condolence over sad demise of grandmother of Member National Assembly Nawabzada Raja Matloob Mehdi.
Murtaza Javed Abbassi in his message to Raja Matloob Mehdi expressed his heartfelt grief and sorrow over the sad demise. He prayed eternal peace for the departed soul and courage for the bereaved family to bear the loss with equanimity.

ISLAMABAD, Feb 19 (APP):Minister for Kashmir Affairs and Gilgit-Baltistan Chaudhry Muhammad Barjees Tahir says on Monday that economically strong Pakistan is inevitable for impregnable defense of the country.
In a statement , minister said that China-Pakistan Economic Corridor (CPEC) project was launched keeping in view the economic security of the country, Radio Pakistan reported .
Barjees said that Pakistan Muslim League Nawaz (PML-N) government brought the country out of darkness of load-shedding and people will not let the party go out of power.
The Minister said that successful public gatherings and victory in by-polls have proved that PML-N is a party representing the people.

PESHAWAR, Feb 19 (APP):The bilateral trade between Pakistan and Russia has shown an increase of 33 percent during the last one year, but still there is a lot of potential for increasing business between the
two countries.
This was said by Ambassador of Russia, Alexey Yurievich
Dedov while speaking to business community of Khyber Pakhtunkhwa during his
visit to Sarhad Chamber of Commerce and Industry (SCCI) on Monday.
President SCCI, Zahidullah Shinwari, Trade Commissioner of
Russian Embassy, Yuri Kozlov, Senior Vice President SCCI, Muhammad Naeem Butt,
Chairman ZRK Group of Industries, Zahid Rahim Khan, Presidents of Swat Chamber
and Charsadda Chamber besides other businessmen were present on the occasion.
Talking to businessmen, Russain Ambassador said the bilateral
trade between Pakistan and Russia is low, but it is showing increase.
In the previous year, he continued, the trade between the
two countries were recorded at dollar 400 million which has now increased to
dollar 541 million.
He said there is a great potential of increasing trade
between the two countries and for this purpose we have to increase contact
between governments, businessmen and people.
Mr. Alexey Yurievich also disclosed that Russian Embassy is opening
Consul General office in Peshawar on Monday and he will perform the inauguration.
The honorary Consul General of Russia in Peshawar is Arsala
Khan, a businessman and Director of ZRK Group of Industries.
During the course of
discussion with businessmen, Russian envoy held out assurance of cooperation in
increasing bilateral trade, economic cooperation, investment promotion,
shifting of modern machinery, development in oil and gas exploration, mining,
transport and hydel power generation.
He said with mutual cooperation and strenuous efforts,
Pakistan and Russia can be brought closure to each other economically.
He said opening of office of honorary consul general in
Peshawar will open up new vistas for promotion of commercial and people to
people contact between the two countries.
He said Russain investors are showing interest in Pakistan
and recently a company has signed agreement for establishment of Oil Refinery
of KP. Another company has expressed consent for participation in modernization
of Pakistan Railway, he added.
Speaking on the occasion, Honorary Consul General of Russia
in Peshawar, Arsala Khan assured the business community of KP of full
cooperation and support in promotion of trade between the two countries.
He said his priority would be to convey business potential
of KP to business community of Russia.
Earlier in his welcome address, President SCCI, Zahid
Shinwari invited Russia to take advantage of CPEC by developing road network in
Wakhan corridor for linkages with Lowari tunnel for exporting items and
boosting trade through warm water with gulf region.
“Russia is the world’s second and third largest producer of
gas and oil respectively and KPOGCL can learn and take guidance from Russian
technology and experience in enhancing its gas and oil exploration and
production,” Shinwari suggested.
Similarly, he continued, Pakistan and KP can take advantage
of Russian import of dollar 16 billion agricultural products by exporting
organic agriculture products.
He said bilateral trade could be improved significantly by
encouraging frequent exchange visits of business delegations.