Day: October 7, 2020

ISLAMABAD:Speaker National Assembly Asad Qaiser has said that promoting exports is imperative for economic stability and development of Pakistan.

He said Afghanistan by virtue of its location was a favorable export destination besides being at the transit route to the Central Asia.

He stressed for implementation of the recommendations of the Executive Committee of Pak-Afghan Friendship Group for fully realizing the export potential of the country.

The Speaker was chairing the appraisal meeting of the Executive Committee of the Pakistan Afghanistan Parliamentary Friendship Group (PFG) to review the implementation of the decisions regarding Pak-Afghan Trade and visa facilitation here at Parliament House on Wednesday.

The NLC representative informed the Committee that container clearance had reached average up to 1870 per day due to deployment of extra personnel and speedy clearance of Afghanistan bound containers and would be enhanced up to 2000 containers per day.

The Speaker appreciated the performance of FBR and Custom department regarding container clearance on Torkham and Chaman borders. He directed FBR and Custom to ensure clearance of containers of Afghan Transit Trade within a week.

He also remarked that easing down the scanning requirements for the Afghan Transit Trade would facilitate the traders and directed the Custom department to complete the process within week.

He directed Representative of the State Bank of Pakistan to ensure establishment of Bank Branches at Angoor Adda and Ghulam Khan Borders for facilitation of the traders.

The Representative of SBP informed that Bank of Khyber and National Bank of Pakistan would establish banks within stipulated time. He commended the approval of the cabinet of visa Liberalization policy for Afghan Nationals on recommendation of this committee.

Enquiring about the implementation of the matter related to off-loading of import containers at Miran Shah instead of Ghulam Khan and deployment of FIA personnel at Ghulam Khan, Angoor Adda and Kharlachi, the Speaker directed Secretary Interior to immediately assess the ground situation and submit a report at the earliest to facilitate the Afghan Transit Traders.

Reviewing progress on the issue of waving off Demurrage and Detention charges for the Afghan Transit Trade containers, the Committee recommended unanimously to forward this matter on Economic Coordination Committee of the Cabinet.

The Committee also unanimously recommended to bring legislative bill in the matter of waiving off demurrage issues. While inquiring about reducing the number of checkpoints, the Speaker directed Special Assistant to the Prime Minister (SAPM) on Establishment to hold meeting with Balochistan Government, stakeholders and apprise the committee about rationalization of the required numbers of check posts.

The SPAM remarked that the recent approval of rationalization and visa liberalization policy for Afghanistan by Cabinet is due to the substantive efforts and deliberation on the part of this Executive Committee.

He said Prime Minister Imran Khan during approval of the visa policy for Afghanistan has directed to provide all facilities to visa seekers in Kabul Embassy Pakistan.

Sadiq Khan, who is Prime Minister’s Special Envoy to Afghanistan, said that coordination of FBR and NLC is vital to facilitate the transit traders.

MNA Mohsin Dawar and Shahdana Gulzar Khan suggested for suggested for on ground visit of Torkham, Chamman and Angoor Adda besides giving retrospective legislation in the matter of waiving of demurrage issues.

MNAs Mohsin Dawar, Salahuddin Ayubi, Ms Shandana Gulzaar, Mrs Sajida Begum, senior officers of Ministries of Commerce, Interior, National Food Security, Maritime, Foreign Affairs, State Bank of Pakistan, FBR and Representative of Governments of KP and Balochistan attended the meeting.

ISLAMABAD:Pakistan and Turkey are enjoying exemplary bilateral relations that have always formed to be mutually beneficial for the two brotherly countries.

This was stated by Federal Ombudsman, Syed Tahir Shahbaz while talking to Turkish Ambassador to Pakistan, Ihsan Mustafa Yurdakul in Islamabad.

During the meeting, the Ambassador to Turkey also presented a book on the 70th anniversary of Pak-Turkish relations.

Speaking on the occasion, the Turkish Ambassador said relationship between Turkey and Pakistan are time tested and cooperation at Ombudsmen Forum will further strengthen this bond between the people of the two brotherly countries.

Islamabad:The pro-active energy management is the need of hour for Pakistan to meet the emerging challenges in the energy sector. The experts from energy sector said this while sharing their view with the participants of online webinar ‘Indicative Generation Capacity Expansion Plan (IGCEP) 2047 and the challenges’ organized by the Sustainable Development Policy Institute (SDPI), here on Tuesday, with support from the Institute of Policy Studies (IPS), the Rural Development Policy Institute (RDPI), the World Wind Energy Association (WWEA), and World Wide Fund for Nature-Pakistan (WWF-Pakistan).

Mr. Simon Nicholas, representing Institute for Energy Economics Analysis, shared with the participants that although the plan takes into account both energy and economic impacts, there is a risk in both and there are chances that the plan could be unsustainable in both energy and economics. Concerns were raised against GDP projections as well.

Moreover, he said, the major risk in IGCEP is the locking of too much power that will cause a huge economic loss. He said that Pakistan will be better off by reducing the cost of generation.

Mr. Tauseef ur Rehman from National Transmission and Distribution Company (NTDC), on the occasion, explained that planning and Forecasting of Energy demand is the main driving parameter and pre-requisite behind plans such as IGCEP 2047. He added further that it is an indicative plan that will be updated every year and will be based on different scenarios of GDP growth rates and electricity sales.

Miss Haneea Isaad, representing Rural Development Policy Institute (RDPI), explained that the said plan lacks an explanation in its least-cost analysis whereas hydropower might not have been optimized and transmission cost does not appear to be a part of the plan. She also raised concerns about the grave social, financial and environmental risks posed by an over-dependence of the IGCEP plan on fossil fuel fired generation. Likewise, a target of achieving 30% renewable energy by 2030 has been considered, but a decrease in the share of renewables is seen after 2030, she added.

Dr Muhammad Asif, Assistant Professor, Glasgow University, pointed out that energy efficiency and management is a major contributor and pre-requisite for an energy-efficient outlook. He added further that measures for demand-side management and policies are missing from Pakistan’s plan of action.

For a better outlook, he said, a pro-active energy management activity and diverse energy supplies should be prioritized.

The experts agreed that correctly forecasting GDP is nearly an impossible task, and always must adjust it accordingly. Nonetheless, it’s a positive step that initiatives like the IGCEP are being undertaken in Pakistan and can surely play an important role in determining future directions for energy policy in the country.

Dr Hina Aslam, Research Fellow Energy, Head of China Study Center, SDPI, earlier highlighted the diverse aspect of the plan and the outlook of the overall landscape of the energy in Pakistan.