Day: October 16, 2020

ISLAMABAD: Prime Minister Imran Khan has said the government is focused to promote local manufacturing and industrialization to enhance exports of the country.

He was addressing a ceremony after inaugurating N-Ovative Health Technology Facility here at National University of Science and Technology (NUST) on Friday.

This is the first facility in Pakistan that will produce cardiac stents. The Prime Minister said real development of the country is not possible without enhancing exports, and the PTI government has set the direction right to focus on exports instead of imports.

He said all the government departments have been directed to facilitate and create an enabling environment for investment. He said Overseas Pakistanis, who are the biggest asset of the country, are being encouraged and facilitated to invest in the country.

The Prime Minister said when PTI came to power, the country was facing forty billion dollars trade gap. He said current account deficit ultimately leads to high inflation mainly due to rupee depreciation.

Giving assurance of full support to higher education, the Prime Minister said the government will promote knowledge economy. He urged the youth to have their visions and work hard to realize their potential.

Appreciating the initiative of manufacturing of cardiac stents in Pakistan, he said the step will significantly reduce expenditures on treatment of heart diseases besides saving foreign exchange.

Earlier addressing the ceremony, Minister for Science and Technology Chaudhary Fawad Hussain said Pakistan is heading from import based economy to manufacturing based economy under the dynamic leadership of the Prime Minister.

He said Pakistan is advancing towards self-reliance under the visionary leadership of Prime Minster Imran Khan. He said the future of Pakistan is attached with education and technology.

The Minister said linkage among defence, academia and industry is of vital importance to achieve the goal of the country’s development. He said N-Ovative Health Technology facility is an important milestone in the field of health.

ISLAMABAD: Prime Minister Imran Khan has said that around 21,000 non-resident Pakistanis opened Roshan Digital Account remotely and sent 24 million dollars with the number still growing.

In a tweet, the Prime Minister expressed appreciation for Roshan Digital Account initiative of State Bank of Pakistan (SBP). He said the number of accounts and amounts are growing every day.

Roshan Digital Account is an opportunity for overseas Pakistanis allowing them to remotely open an account in Pakistan through an entirely digital and online process without any need to visit a bank branch. These accounts provide innovative solutions to undertake payment and investment activities in Pakistan.

ISLAMABAD: The National Assembly transacted more than half of its agenda on Friday and witnessed introduction of a government bill seeking amendment in the Elections Act, 2017, observes Free and Fair Election Network (FAFEN) in its Daily Factsheet on Tuesday.

The National Assembly met for an hour and 36 minutes. The sitting started at 1653 hours against the scheduled time of 1630 hours. The Speaker presided over the entire sitting. The Deputy Speaker was also present. The Leaders of the House (Prime Minister) attended the sitting for 21 minutes. The Leader of the Opposition did not attend the sitting.

One hundred and thirty-one (38%) lawmakers were present at the outset and 109 (32%) at the adjournment of sitting. The parliamentary leaders of BAP attended the sitting. Four minority lawmakers were present.

Advisor to Prime Minister on Parliamentary Affairs introduced the Elections (Amendment) Bill, 2020 which was referred to the relevant committee.

Ten periodical reports of as many Standing Committees for a period of six months were presented in the House.

The House took up one out of 32 starred questions while the remaining questions could not be taken up due to opposition’s protest. Two Calling Attention Notices (CANs) on the agenda remained unaddressed.

The entire opposition staged protest for 13 minutes during the proceedings and chanted anti-government slogans. Following this protest, the Speaker announced to suspend the proceedings for 20 minutes. The House was adjourned to meet again on October 19, 2020 (Monday) at 1600 hours.

ISLAMABAD: Minister for Information and Broadcasting Shibli Faraz has said the government is well aware of the problems of the masses and discussions are being made to control inflation and provision of houses to low income group.

In an interview with a private television channel, he said the people are suffering high inflation due to massive corruption and money laundering made by the leaders of Opposition parties.

He said the opposition parties are holding public meetings to protect the looted money. To a question, he said PML-N leaders who had fled the country to avoid corruption and money laundering cases, should return the money of this country.

ISLAMABAD: Foreign Minister Makhdoom Shah Mahmood Qureshi held a video call with Saudi Minister of Communications and Information Technology and discussed bilateral cooperation in the field of information technology.

The Foreign Minister underlined the historic and deep-rooted fraternal ties, which form the basis of enhanced cooperation in all fields between the two countries.

He said the two countries shared the focus on development of information technology, which was the need of the modern digital age. He highlighted the fact that both Pakistan and the Kingdom had a significant youth bulge in their demography.

He said the two countries have a wide-ranging scope of expanding ties and enhancing collaboration in this field, which could be mutually beneficial.

The Saudi Minister of Communications and Information Technology reciprocated the warm feelings and echoed the sentiments of the Foreign Minister, terming Pakistan as a close brotherly country.

The two Ministers agreed to enhance bilateral ties and continue close collaboration on all matters of mutual interest.

ISLAMABAD: The 69th death anniversary of Pakistan’s first Prime Minister Shaheed-e-Millat Liaquat Ali Khan is being observed today (Friday).

Born in Karnale East Punjab, Liaquat Ali Khan got education from Aligarh Muslim University, India and Oxford University, United Kingdom.

He then struggled with Quaid-e-Azam Muhammad Ali Jinnah to get a separate homeland for Muslims of sub-continent.

Liaquat Ali Khan was assassinated this day in 1951 during a public meeting at Company Bagh in Rawalpindi which was later named after him as Liaquat Bagh. He is buried at Mazar-e-Quaid compound in Karachi.

ISLAMABAD: The funeral prayer of fourteen security personnel who were martyred at Coastal Highway Ormara was offered at Awaran Malashia in Lesbela on Friday.

Security personnel of Frontier Corps Balochistan attended the funeral prayer. After the funeral prayer the dead bodies were dispatched to their ancestral towns with full honor.