Day: October 31, 2022

ISLAMABAD: The World Cities Day is being observed across the globe today (Tuesday).

The theme of this year is “Act Local to Go Global. This year’s global celebrations are being held in Shanghai city of China. World Cities Day brings Urban October to an end on 31 October each year and was first celebrated in 2014. As with World Habitat Day, a global observance is held in a different city each year and the day focuses on a specific theme.

ISLAMABAD: Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif will embark on a two-day visit to China tomorrow (Tuesday).

Accompanied by a high level delegation, he is undertaking the visit at the invitation of Chinese Premier Li Keqiang. This would be Prime Minister’s first visit to China since assuming office in April this year and follows his meeting with President Xi Jinping in Uzbekistan on September 16, this year.

Prime Minister’s visit represents the continuity of frequent leadership level exchanges between Pakistan and China. The Prime Minister will meet with President Xi Jinping and hold delegation level talks with Premier Li Keqiang.

The two sides will review the All-Weather Strategic Cooperation Partnership and exchange views on regional and global developments. The visit is also expected to advance the wide ranging bilateral cooperation agenda with the conclusion of a number of MoUs/Agreements in diverse areas.

ISLAMABAD: Second phase of Covid vaccination for children commenced on Monday. Minister for National Health Services Abdul Qadir Patel in a statement said six days vaccination campaign will cover Islamabad and selected districts of Sindh and Punjab.

The Minister said children are our future and it is our responsibility to protect them. He urged the media, Ulemas, teachers and civil society to play their pivotal role in the success of this campaign. He said the government is utilizing its all resources to improve health system in the country.

ISLAMABAD: Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif has felicitated Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva on his election as President of Brazil.

In a tweet on Monday, Shehbaz Sharif said he looks forward to work with him to enhance bilateral relations between the two countries. The Prime Minister said Pakistan and Brazil share consensus on the dangers of climate change.

ISLAMABAD: Pakistan and China will further expand cooperation in key areas of trade, investment, infrastructure, industry, agriculture and Information Technology.

In a statement ahead of Prime Minister’s visit to China, Pakistan’s Ambassador to China Moin-ul-Haque said both sides will discuss important issues, especially cooperation in addressing global challenges like pandemic, climate change, inflation and poverty.

The ambassador said the China Pakistan Economic Corridor (CPEC) marks a new phase in Pakistan-China relations as it places economic cooperation and connectivity at the center of bilateral agenda. He said the CPEC would emerge as a lynchpin of region’s connectivity and economic integration.

ISLAMABAD: The Higher Education Commission (HEC), Pakistan signed on Monday a Document of Understanding (DoU) with the Edith Cowan University (ECU), Australia to jointly work under a collaborative arrangement on various academic and research areas.

Under the agreement, ECU will admit up to 15 HEC’s PhD scholars — who meet the HEC scholarship criteria and the normal selection criteria for entry to an ECU PhD course including academic and English language entry requirements as indicated on the ECU website — per year for five years, starting in 2023.

The major research areas being covered under the agreement include Engineering; Arts and Humanities; Education; Medical and Health Sciences; Science; Nursing and Midwifery, and Business and Law. The DoU signing ceremony was preceded by a detailed meeting of an ECU delegation, led by Executive Dean School of Engineering Prof. Daryoush Habibi, with Chairman HEC Dr. Mukhtar Ahmed.

Dr. Mukhtar Ahmed briefed the delegation on the long history of academic and research collaboration between Pakistani and Australian institutions. He highlighted that Pakistan and Australia have a number of universities jointly working in various disciplines including Engineering, IT, Agriculture, and Business Management. He stressed the need for enhancing the scope of bilateral collaboration in the fields of science and technology, with joint research on food security, climate change, and energy.

Prof. Daryoush Habibi appreciated the performance of Pakistani students and alumni at ECU and expressed a desire of increasing the number of Pakistani students and scholars at the university. He

Lecturer School of Engineering Dr. Rizwan shared a presentation on ECU, its world-ranking and academic programmes. He said the core Engineering disciplines offered at the university include Chemical Engineering, Civil Engineering, Environmental Engineering, Electrical Engineering, Mechanical Engineering, and Energy. He added that the university has four research groups including Thermofluids Research Group, Geotechnical and Geo-environmental Engineering Research Group, Materials and Manufacturing Research Group, and Water and Environmental Engineering Research Group.

He said the HEC priority areas being covered at the ECU include sustainable energy, Information Technology and Telecommunication, advanced materials and manufacturing, advanced technologies, water management and sustainability, urban planning, climate change and environment, transport and smart mobility, and process technologies.

ISLAMABAD: A banking court in Islamabad on Monday extended the interim bail granted to former prime minister and PTI Chairman Imran Khan in the case registered against him under the Foreign Exchange Act until November 10, 2022.

Judge Rakhshinda Shaheen also accepted Imran’s plea for exemption from court appearance today. Prosecutor Raja Rizwan Abbasi, on the occasion, told the court that Imran had been granted protective bail from the high court.

Former prime minister’s lawyer said that the first issue in the case was to determine the court’s jurisdiction. “And now the Islamabad High Court (IHC) has resolved the issue,” he added. Seeking exemption for his client from court appearance today, his counsel said that since Imran was PTI head, and was leading a long march; therefore he be exempted from attending today’s hearing.

The prosecutor, on the other hand, opposed Imran’s lawyer’s plea, and prayed to the court to reject it. “This simply does not make any sense that since PTI chairman is leading a long march, he could show up today,” he said. PTI chief’s interim bail in terrorism case extended until Nov 9.

Former prime minister and PTI Chairman Imran Khan got relief in yet another case on Monday as an anti-terrorism court (ATC) in Islamabad extended his interim bail in a terrorism case registered against him at Tarnol police station of the city until November 9.