ISLAMABAD, Feb 14 (APP):Speaker National Assembly Sardar Ayaz Sadiq said Wednesday that Pak-Turk friendship was unique and
exemplary.
We are emotionally attached with Turkey and proud of this relationship, he said while speaking to the
Ambassador of the Republic of Turkey Ihsan Mustafa Yurdakul in Parliament House, said a press release.
The Speaker said that Pakistan and Turkey enjoy close fraternal relations and frequent contacts at
the highest level have been the hallmark of these relations.
He underlined the need for enhanced interaction between the parliamentarians of both the countries for further cementing the fraternal relations between the two countries.
Parliamentarians of the two sides could play a meaningful role in the region as “parliamentary diplomacy”
could enable the real policy makers to understand each-others points of view better, he added.
Expressing his concern over the problems confronting Muslim Ummah, Sardar Ayaz Sadiq said that it was
the responsibility of all the parliamentarians from Muslim countries to work in close cooperation.
Ambassador of Turkey Mr. Ihsan Mustafa Yurdakul said that Pakistan and Turkey have unanimity of views on
the political front and the cooperation between both the nations should be extended to all spheres of all mutual relations.
He said that the culture and values of people in Pakistan and Turkey have much commonalities and could be utilized for strengthening mutual relations and for the benefit of the people. He assured the Speaker that his country would do all possible for
speeding up the pace of economic development and progress in Pakistan.
Pak-Turk relationship is unique, exemplary: Ayaz Sadiq
Govt to evolve comprehensive STPF -2018-23 for increasing country’s trade
ISLAMABAD, Feb 14 (APP):Federal, Secretary Ministry of Commerce and Textile Industry, Muhmmad Younas Dhaga on Wednesday said that it was priority of the government to evolve comprehensive Strategic Trade Policy Framework (2018-23) for increasing country’s trade.
Owing to government prudent trade policies, country’s exports increased in last three months and are expected to reach at $ 23 billion in coming months till June, 2018, Secretary Commerce said this while addressing to consultative sessions for the Strategic Trade Policy Framework 2018-23 with the business community of the country here on Wednesday.
The consultative sessions for the Strategic Trade Policy Framework 2018-23 with the business community was organized by Ministry of Commerce and Textile Industry here.
Secretary Commerce said that the objective of organizing the consultative sessions across the country with business community, think tanks and academia is to deliberate on existing STPF 2015-18, point out its loopholes, and identify current issues from stakeholder’s viewpoint.
He said that in recent negotiation with China and Indonesia on Free and Preferential Trade Agreement, the government was successful for getting tarrif reduction facility on top exports of the country.
He informed that in the upcoming STPF, Ministry of Commerce is devising the Long, medium and short term trade policy for the period of five years so that trade could benefit from the incentives announced in STPF 2018-23.
The major focus of STPF would be upon boosting exports in the Technology and Services Sector, competitiveness and investment linkages, particularly attraction of Foreign Direct Investment (FDI) in the export related Industry and integration of local industry into global value chain.
He emphasized upon the stakeholders for their concrete proposals based upon proper research of markets and data, for their consideration by Ministry of Commerce and incorporation of the same in the upcoming STPF 2018-23.
On the occasion business community of the country, appreciated the efforts of Ministry of Commerce and Textile Industries for considering consultation with the traders.
In consultative meeting Vice President of Federation of Pakistan Chamber of Commerce and Industry (FPCCI) hailed the government efforts for consulting the with business community to make consensus on STPF 2018+19.
Marriyum condoles demise of senior journalist Ashfaq Sajid
ISLAMABAD, Feb 14 (APP):Minister of State for Information, Broadcasting, National History and Literary Heritage Marriyum Aurangzeb Wednesday expressed deep grief and sorrow over the sad demise of senior journalist and former president of Rawalpindi Islamabad Union of Journalists Ashfaq Sajid.
The minister, in her condolence message, said that Ashfaq Sajid had always strived for the welfare of the media community.
She prayed to Almighty Allah to rest his soul in eternal peace and grant courage to his bereaved family to bear the loss with fortitude.
China intensifying consultations with member countries for SCO summit preparations
BEIJING, Feb 14 (APP):China is intensifying communication and consultations with Shanghai Cooperation Organization (SCO) members on preparations for the SCO summit to be held in Qingdao in June, a spokesperson of Chinese foreign ministry Wednesday said.
“At present, China is maintaining close communication with member countries on preparations for the summit and intensifying consultations,” Chinese foreign ministry’s spokesperson Geng Shuang said during his regular press briefing here.
He said as the chair of the SCO presidency, China will hold the SCO summit in Qingdao in June this year.
“China will work with all parties involved to push the summit to a complete success and inject new impetus into the sustainable development of the SCO,” he added.
The east China’s Qingdao city will host the SCO Summit in June this year. Shandong is the birthplace of many ancient Chinese thinkers, including Confucius. In 2017, its GDP exceeded 7.2 trillion yuan (about 1.1 trillion U.S.dollars).
The summit has China, Russia, Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Tajikistan, Uzbekistan, India and Pakistan as full members.
PCB Challengers defeat Blasters in Triangular Women Cricket 2018
MULTAN, Feb 14 (APP)::PCB Challengers defeated rivals PCB
Blasters by 58 runs in the match three of Triangular One Day
Women’s Cricket Tournament 2018 at Multan Cricket Stadium on
Wednesday.
Batting first, PCB challengers put on a total of 186 for
the loss of six wickets in the allotted 50 overs with main
contributions from Iram Javed (48) Sidra Ameen (46 not out),
and Sana Taj (32). Ghulam Fatima and Sania Khan claimed two
wickets each while Kainat Imtiaz bagged one wicket.
In reply, PCB Blasters were bundled out at 128 in 44 overs.
Naheeda Khan (41) and Fareeha Mahmood (37) were the main
contributors from PCB Blasters.
PCB Challengers bowling trio Nashra Sandhu, Waheeda
Akhtar and Elizabeth Barkat claimed two wickets each.
CAS Golf Championship begins
KARACHI, Feb 14 (APP):The 37th Chief of Air Staff (CAS) Golf Championship has started at Airmen Golf Course and Recreational Park, PAF Base Korangi Creek.
Air Commodore Ibrahim Asad, Base Commander PAF base Korangi Creek inaugurated the Championship, said a press release here on Wednesday.
The Championship will be played for five days and 18 holes will be played each day.
Around 350 golfers including 76 professionals are participating in the championship from all over the country.
International watercolor biennale begins at Mehran University
HYDERABAD, Feb 14 (APP):The 2nd International Watercolor Biennale “Pearls of Peace, Season-II” started at the Centre of Excellence in Art and Design (CEAD) Mehran University of Engineering and Technology Jamshoro on Wednesday.
The Biennale which organized by CEAD Jamshoro in collaboration with International Watercolor Society (IWS) was inaugurated by the Consul General of Italy in Pakistan Anna Ruffino which also attended by the Vice-chancellor Mehran University Prof. Dr. Muhammad Aslam Uqaili, Dean Prof. Dr. Khan Muhammad Brohi, Director CEAD Prof. Dr. Bhai Khan Shar, President IWS Globe Atanur Dogan, President IWS Pakistan Prof. Ali Abbas Jafferi, Prof. Dr. S. M. Qureshi and Prof. Hameer Soomro jointly.
The Pearls of Peace through watercolor biennale is the biggest art event in the history of the country that includes the artists from U. S. A, Turkey, China, Hong Kong, Portugal, Russia, Romania, Serbia, Bulgaria, Iraq, Spain, Brazil, Czech Republic and Pakistan.
Around 444 watercolor paintings of 60 eminent artists around the globe have been displayed in the Biennale. The artists participating in the Biennale are head of International Watercolor Society Atanur Dogan, Joao Eudes Alves Correia, Selma Todorova, Krasimir Todorova, Liu Yi, Alexandara Bryksa, Vasyl Bryksa, Lai Ze Ze, Faisal Othoman Qadir, Amer Hassan Salman, Maria Ines Ferreira Madeira Rodrigues, Monteriro and others.
Addressing the inauguration ceremony the Vice Chancellor Prof. Dr. Muhammad Aslam Uqaili said the Sindh is the region of love, peace and harmony and the people of the province consider art as one of the source through which can revive the image of this land.
He said that artists have different point of view than other people and they illustrate issues and their solution through paintings.
The Italian CG Anna Ruffino in his brief speech said that the exhibition was quite impressive and it will carry a message of love around the globe.
The Pro Vice-chancellor Mehran University Prof. Dr. Tauha Hussain Ali said that large numbers of artists have taken part in the exhibition this year and they all will carry the message of love around the globe.
The Dean Prof. Dr. Khan Muhammad Brohi termed the biennale a great achievement for CEAD in a very short time since its establishment.
The Director CEAD Prof. Dr. Bhai Khan Shar said the International Watercolor Society is a great community of artists having around 80 branches in different countries of the world. He welcomed all participating artists adding that they came here to spread message of love. He hoped that the event will prove fruitful for making the image of Pakistan better of the region.
The President IWS Globe Atanur Dogan said that most powerful branch of IWS is in Pakistan and this 2nd International Biennale is its proof adding that we came here to spread love through colors. He said that after coming here the participating artists realized that Pakistan has very different image and is completely inverse to that what they saw on media.
On the opening day of exhibition an award ceremony was also held to honour the eminent artists, critics and people who spent their lives for art around the world.
The lifetime and appreciation awards were given to Atanur Dogan, from Canada, Ze Ze from Hong Kong, Anna Massinissa from Italy, Linda Doll, John Salminen, Kathleen Conover, Thomas W Schaller, Stella Canfield from U.S.A, Teresa Jorda Vito, Pablo Ruben, Angela Barbie, Isabel Moreno from Spain, Sergey Temerev, Ilya Ibryaev, Konstantin Sterkhov from Russia, Huang Hua Zhao, Liu Yi, Zhou Tianya from China, David Poxon, Joe Dowden, Graham Berry from England, Lafe from Thailand, Rajkumar Sthabathy, Milind Mulick, Rajat Subhra from India, Selma Todorova from Bulgaria, Endre Penovac, Dusan Djukaric, Pedja Acimovic from Srbia, Hajra Mansoor, Moazzam Ali, Ameer Hassan Rizvi, Sarfraz Mussawir, Abdul Hayee, Marjorie Hussain, Fateh Halepoto and other hundred personalities.
On the 3rd day of conference the all the artists coming from different countries will register a history by painting together on a 50 meter long sheet. The exhibition will last till February 18.
Tharparkar’s largest science festival starts
ISLAMABAD, Feb 14 (APP):A two-day science festival for schoolchildren started Wednesday at Shaheed Benazir Bhutto Cultural Complex in Mithi, Tharparkar aimed at triggering a spark for science and discovery among students in the region.
The festival was organized and inaugurated by Chief Monitoring Officer Samiullah Sanjrani and Deputy Commissioner Dr Hafeez Siyal, in collaboration with Alif Ailaan, Thar Education Alliance, and Pakistan Alliance for Maths and Science, said a press release issued here.
The first day of the festival attracted a massive attendance of 6,000 students from more than 100 government and private schools of Thar district.
Teachers, entrepreneurs, science specialists, government officials and local political leaders attended the festival where students exhibited more than 120 science models displaying their passion for science and technology, and introduced innovative concepts to the visitors.
Interactive displays and live experiments, some of which involved lunar and solar observatories, robotics, and 3D printing, were conducted by six science organisations from across the country.
The latest Standardized Achievement Test conducted in Sindh reflects a poor state of maths and science education in Tharparkar, with Class V students scoring 27.38 in science and 30.04 in maths, while Class VIII students scored 26.8 in science and 25.6 in maths. This calls for a greater focus by the political and local district government in Thar to organize interventions such as these to sustain their interest in these subjects.
During his media talk, District Commissioner Dr Hafeez Siyal invited all children in Thar to attend the festival with their parents and termed the event a learning opportunity for Thar’s youth.
Chief Monitoring Officer Samiullah Sanjrani also organized a maths and science test for grades 4 to 12 in which over 4000 students participated.
Sixth World Government Summit concludes in Dubai, news agencies ink joint declaration to promote new technologies
DUBAI , Feb 14 (APP):The sixth World Government Summit concluded in Dubai, with prominent thinkers,media experts and policy-makers gathered to discuss technology and innovations in a range of fields.
Managing Director, Associated Press of Pakistan (APP) Masood Ahmed Malik, who represented Pakistan at the summit held very fruitful and meaningful meetings with the heads of all the news agencies who attended the summit.
They shown keenness to expand their cooperation with the APP on professional front. Matters related to social and digital media were also discussed threadbare during the meetings. They also agreed in principle that joint efforts should be made for capacity building and improving professional skills of the editorial staffers.
Heads and key position holders of world news agencies expressed keen interest in news related to various developments in Pakistan owing to its unique geopolitical location. During the meeting it was also realized that role of news agencies needed to be enhanced to bring people of various regions together especially social media tools should be utilized for creating better understanding of human related issues in the society.
During the meetings the Managing Director APP extended invitation to the counterparts of various news agencies to attend First News Agencies Conference scheduled to be organised by APP during current year in Islamabad. All the invitees principally accepted the invitation and appreciated Pakistan’s initiative to hold such an important conclave.
They expressed the hope that Islamabad conference will help create new avenues of mutual cooperation and understanding between different news agencies.
Earlier during the summit Associated Press of Pakistan (APP) signed a six-point declaration underlining the need to promote new technologies for the benefit of humanity and help create modern economies with news agencies from different countries, participating in the World Government Summit-2018.
The joint declaration signed by the heads of various news agencies recognized the importance of the World Government Summit 2018 and the key themes discussed therein, shaping the future of the world and the role expected of the media in developing its tools through the provision of technologies and innovations.
The news agencies also agreed to enhance the media content associated with Artificial Intelligence (AI) using media tools to raise level of such content and highlight the global successes in use of AI in the service of humanity.
They further agreed to explore future use of Artificial Intelligence in information, health and education.
The other point of the declaration was to develop an integrated media system to deal with issues related to climate change so as to reduce its negative impacts on natural resources.
Another major point was to shed light on all global efforts related to the latest developments in space research around the world and the development of space technologies on earth.
The participating nations agreed to support issues related to youth in all their aspects, to enhance their participation in decision-making.
The news agencies, including Saudi Press Agency (SPA), were represented by its Vice President Ahmed bin Ibrahim Al-Awad, Middle East News Agency (MENA) by Chairman and Editor-in-Chief Ali Hassan Mohamed Abdel Baqi, IANS-Indo Asian News Service by Executive Editor Chandrasekar Sundararaman, Jordan News Agency (Petra) by Director General Faisal Al Shboul, Federation of Arab News Agencies by Secretary General Farid Ayyar, ANSA-Italian News Agency by CEO & Managing Director Giuseppe Cerbone, Federation of News Agencies of the Organization of Islamic Cooperation (OIC) by Director General Issa Khaira Robleh, National News Agency-Lebanon by Director General Laure Sleiman Saab, APP-Associated Press of Pakistan by Managing Director Masood Malik, Athens News Agency President – General Director Michalis PSILOS, Oman News Agency (ONA) by Director General Mohammed bin Mubarak Al-Araimi, LUSA AGENCIA DE NOTICIAS by International Relations Director Monica Garcia, International News of UKRINFORM by Deputy Chief Editor Natalia Bukvych, Mauritania News Agency by Director General Sidi Mohamed Ould Boune Director General, PTI-India by Executive Editor Sudhakar Nair and Emirates News Agency (WAM) by Executive Director Mohamed Jalal Al Rayssi.
Need for modern technology use in agriculture stressed
LAHORE, Feb 14 (APP):Use of modern techniques and technologies
in Agriculture is the need of the hour which carries equal significance
for both the businessmen and the men of science and technology.
It was upshot of the speeches delivered at a seminar on ‘High
Value Agriculture’ held here at Lahore Chamber of Commerce & Industry
on Wednesday. The LCCI President Malik Tahir Javaid, Ceo Yuksel Seeds, Turkey Yaqub Yuksel, Convener LCCI Standing Committee on Mechanized & High Value Agriculture Mian Shafqat Ali, Ex-vice Chancellor Arid Agriculture University, Rawalpindi Dr Rai Niaz Ahmed, Dr Khawaja
Asif, Mian Shaukat Ali, Faisal Iqbal Sheikh and Naeem Hanif also
spoke on the occasion.
The experts said that there was a dire need for reforms in
agriculture sector and addition in cropped area as country could
not afford to stay where it was today in terms of cropped areas
and per hectare yield because it was already running well short of
per capita food availability. They said that yield gap in the four
major crops of Pakistan was three times from the best producers in
the world such as China and Egypt. They said that low yield had
contributed to the poverty in rural areas besides forcing country
to import agriculture produces to feed its population.
Malik Tahir Javaid said the agriculture sector of Pakistan
continued to be the single largest and dominant driving force for
growth which contributed almost 19.5 percent in Gross Domestic
Product. It was the main source of livelihood for 42.3 percent
of total labour force despite the fact that agriculture mechanization
in Pakistan was very limited.
He said that area under cultivation for important crops accounted
for 23.85 percent of the value added in overall agriculture. Wheat accounted
for 9.6 percent of the total value added in agriculture and cotton production was
10.67 million bales. For the sake of increasing the share of agriculture sector in
GDP, the existing area of cultivation had to be increased on war-footing.
Malik Tahir Javaid said that due to lack of technology usage in agriculture
sector, we face the problem of crops yields gaps. The
average yields production in the agriculture sector of Pakistan was
far below the level of those countries that used the technology in
their agriculture sector, he said, citing that level of yields of
different crops was 50 to 83 percent lower than the average of other countries
of the world. He said the prospects of Pakistan’s economic prosperity heavily
depended on the performance of agriculture sector.
It had to be evaluated that government was giving subsidy to farmers
at various stages of purchasing fertilizers, pesticides, seeds as
well as selling their output at support prices but still this sector
had not succeeded in enhancing the level of productivity.
He said that in the present scenario of water scarcity, the
sustainable food security of Pakistan had to be ensured by way of
adopting new techniques. “There are many developing countries like
Pakistan which are encouraging corporate farming and in parallel
to that they are fostering high value agriculture that include vertical farming,
hydroponics farming, aquaponics farming and arctic farming etc.
If government helps the farmers in acquiring these technologies at affordable
prices then it is highly likely that new employment opportunities will be created
and the productivity will also increase.”
Mian Shaukat Ali said that Chamber of Commerce and Industry played
an important role to promote agriculture sector of any country. All Chambers
of Commerce and industry of Pakistan should pay attention to agriculture so
that they could highly contribute in development of
this sector. He said that another problem of agricultural sector
was lack of agricultural graduates or their non-seriousness towards agricultural
developments, adding that had they worked for the
development of this sector seriously it would be beneficial for
the country.