ISLAMABAD: The Senate on Friday passed “The Foreign Investment (Promotion and Protection) Amendment Bill, 2022”.
The bill was laid by Finance Minister Ishaq Dar. Chairman Sadiq Sanjrani said the bill will help bring foreign investment in the country especially in Balochistan. He felicitated the present and previous governments for their work towards this end. The House unanimously adopted a resolution felicitating Qatar’s Emir Tamim bin Hamad Al Thani and its people for successfully holding football World Cup in the country.
The resolution moved by Senator Sarfraz Bugti said arrangements for the world cup are exemplary. It further said Qatar has ensured best available facilities to visitors and all teams. It said the House condemned all deliberate, malicious and negative propaganda instigated against Qatar for holding this successful event. It said people of Pakistan are proud of the people and the State of Qatar as being first Muslim and Gulf state for successfully holding the World Cup. The House has now been prorogued.
Torkham: The customs officials have arrested a man and recovered 5,700 bags of urea fertilizer – used in making bombs – along with a thousand meters long wires at the Torkham border. Similarly, 50,000 Saudi Riyals were seized from an Afghan national and 5,000 US dollars from another man at the border on Friday. The customs officials have taken the accused into custody and started further investigation from them.
Customs Collector Moin-Ud-Din Wani said that these prohibited materials and cash were recovered during actions taken during the last four days. He said that crackdown against the smuggling of foreign currency is underway as per the directives of the Federal Finance Ministry.
KARACHI: The foreign exchange reserves held by the State Bank of Pakistan (SBP) fell by 0.2% on a week-on-week basis, according to data released by the State Bank of Pakistan (SBP).
According to the SBP data, the foreign reserves held by the central stood at $6,700 million, down $14.9 million as compared with $6,714.9 million on December 2. This is the lowest level of SBP-held reserves since January 2019. The central bank didn’t give any reason for the decrease in reserves. Meanwhile, the liquid foreign currency reserves held by the country, including the net reserves held by banks other than the SBP, stood at $12,570.2 million. Net reserves held by banks amounted to $5,870.2 million.
In a podcast on Dec 8, SBP Governor Jameel Ahmad had asserted that all debt repayments were on track while the country’s foreign exchange reserves are expected to increase in second half of the current fiscal year. Governor SBP noted that for the fiscal year 2023, around $33 billion were to be repaid to external stakeholders, including the Current Account Deficit (CAD) of $10 billion and $23 billion in loan repayments.
Out of the payable $23 billion external debt, Pakistan has already repaid more than $6 billion whereas as a bilateral loan of $4 billion has been rolled over with the cooperation of relevant countries.
KARACHI: Rejecting recent reduction in POL prices by the federal government, the All Pakistan Public Transport Owners Federation (APPTOF) on Friday demanded Rs50 per lite reduction in the prices of petrol and diesel.
According to a spokesman, the coalition government had disappointed the nation as it failed to provide relief to the [inflation-hit] people in the last eight months. He said high POL prices had badly affected their businesses throughout the country, adding the government should reduce the number of ministers and advisers to pass on financial relief to the nation.
SUKKUR: An anti-corruption court on Friday approved four-day remand of the accused arrested in connection with the M6 Sukkur-Hyderabad Motorway land acquisition scam.
The accused Aziz Ansari, Rustam Khoso, Shafique Soomro, Sajjad Memon and others were presented before the anti-corruption court. The court while granting four days remand of the accused ordered the anti-corruption team to complete the inquiry from the arrested accused till the next hearing. It may be noted that 22 employees have been booked in a motorway land acquisition scam. Last week, the National Accountability Bureau (NAB) team arrested the ‘front man’ of private contractor Rehmatullah Solangi in the M6 Sukkur-Hyderabad Motorway land acquisition scam.
According to documents, the National Highway Authority had released an amount of Rs4.09 billion to DC Matiari for the purchase of the land for the motorway. The accused drew Rs 1.82 billion cash from the bank for the procurement of land for 70 kilometers of the road. An amount of Rs four billion was transferred to another account by the accused which earned 540 million rupees profit. AC New Saeedabad paid cash to the landowners instead of cheques, according to case papers.
NANJING, China, Dec. 15, 2022 /Xinhua-AsiaNet/– On December 5, the 37th “International Volunteer Day”, International Volunteer Service Exchange and Sharing Conference was held at the China Plum Art Center, hosted by the International Volunteer Service Working Committee Secretariat of China Volunteer Service Federation and the Civilization Office of Nanjing Municipal People’s Government. Experts and volunteers from the field of international volunteer service gathered to share stories of voluntary service and contribute their wisdom and efforts to make an exchange platform for international voluntary service. At the same time, Nanjing issued an invitation to the world with “Together, Act Now”.
Volunteers and experts at the conference
Across the barriers of language and age, groups of Nanjing volunteers have gone to other parts of the world to convey the warmth and love from China.
“Dedication is one of the most important spirits of international volunteer service, and I am going out on behalf of the motherland. This is a very positive example!” In 2017, Wu Zhengcan, a member of the Jiangsu Medical Team to Africa, director of the Public Health Department of Nanjing No.1 Hospital and a new father, convinced himself to medical assistance in Tanzania, and completed the first angiographic examination of high difficulty. Wu Zhengcan sincerely encouraged the next generation of aid doctors to Africa, “Be worthy of the demeanor of a doctor from China, and plant the seeds of China-Africa friendship.”
“After the fall of Nanjing in 1937, Dr. Robert O. Wilson resolutely stayed in Nanjing as the only surgeon in the city and saved many people. His fearless spirit also touched me.” Isac Amaral Pereira talked about motivation of being a volunteer of Zijin Grass. Now he was serving as a volunteer docent at the Memorial Hall, he often shares his feelings on social media to let more people understand history and expand channels of communication.
Zhang Qiang, Director of the China Volunteer Service Federation and Professor of Beijing Normal University, Wei Na, Vice President of the Beijing Volunteer Service Development Research Association and Professor of Renmin University of China, She Hongyu, Associate General Secretary of the Amity Foundation, and Xie Lei, representative of the Nanjing International Community, conducted in-depth exchanges on related issues.
Source: The International Volunteer Service Working Committee Secretariat of
XIAMEN, China, Dec. 15, 2022 /Xinhua-AsiaNet/– The Haicang District of Xiamen city, Fujian province is the first and largest domestic Taiwanese Investment Zone, and it serves as a model for the cross-island development of Xiamen. The close proximity to the areas of Haicang Bay New City, Maluan Bay New City, Cangjiang New City, and Aoguan New City creates a magnificent pattern here.
The Haicang District of Xiamen
As an industry-driven district, Haicang’s GDP has increased by 60 billion yuan. Haicang’s port area, which is well connected to the outside world, contributes to a significant share of Fujian Province’s annual container throughput. The thriving bay of Haicang enables a harmonious coexistence of man and nature. It is here that Minnan culture, Maritime Silk Road culture, and modern vitality are fused together as the cultural lineage continues.
Gentle sea breezes, puffy white clouds, crystal-clear blue bay, beautiful port city, Haicang is emanating diversity, openness, and aspiration. Standing ahead f the tide, Haicang will build a world-class bay area of high-quality and top-notch environment from a higher starting point.
