Category: Islamabad

ISLAMABAD: Prime Minister Imran Khan has said that Kashmir issue is the major impediment to trade cooperation between Pakistan and India.

In an interview with Belgian channel VRT, he said Indian forces have turned the whole valley of Occupied Kashmir into a jail. He regretted that India is denying Kashmiris their just right of self-determination in line with UN resolutions as well as the promises made by Indian leaders.

He said he does not see much hope from the current Modi government in India to resolve the Kashmir issue, because he has an extremist ideology of RSS.

The Prime Minister said the founding fathers of RSS were inspired by the racist Arian philosophy of Hitler and this is why they have put eight million Kashmiris, who are Muslims, in an open prison.

He, however, hoped that in future an Indian government and a strong leadership would want the Kashmir dispute to be resolved.

About Pakistan’s economic situation, he said the last year was very difficult for the government but now the current account deficit has been brought down by 75 percent in one year. He said Pakistan’s economy will show signs of recovery this year.

ISLAMABAD: Five terrorists were killed during joint intelligence based operation of police and Counter Terrorism Department in Zagi Ghar area near Khyber district on Friday late night.

According to reports, three suicide jackets and other arms and ammunition were recorded from them.

ISLAMABAD: Chairman Senate, Muhammad Sadiq Sanjrani has called for further broadening bilateral cooperation between Pakistan and Bahrain in diverse sectors.

He expressed these views at a meeting with Crown Prince of Bahrain Salman bin Hamad bin Isa Al Khalifa, while leading a delegation of Senators, in Manama.

He said Pakistan accords high importance to its relations with Bahrain and there is huge scope for further broadening bilateral cooperation in diverse sectors.

The Chairman Senate along with his delegation also met Bahrain’s Speaker of the Council of Representative, Fawzia Bint Abdullah Zainal, Deputy Prime Minister Shaikh Muhammad Bin Mubarak Al-Khalifa and President National Guard of Bahrain, First Lt Gen Shaikh Muhammad Bin Isa Al-Khalifa.

During the meetings, the Chairman stressed the need to explore new vistas of cooperation in trade and economic level.

He said Pakistan offers conducive environment for investment and the government is taking all possible measures to provide friendly atmosphere to the investors.

Xi’an (China): As China continues to tackle the novel coronavirus outbreak, its industries have started to return to work in an orderly manner. Xi’an, one of the national central cities and an important scientific research, educational and industrial base in China, has recently introduced a number of measures to help enterprises pull through the difficult times and speed up their resumption of production, such as optimizing government services, delaying social security payments, stabilizing employment with subsidies and increasing credit support.

According to statistics released by Xi’an Bureau of Industry and Information Technology, as of February 19, more than 400 enterprises in Xi’an have resumed production. A total of 34 large industrial enterprises have resumed work and production, accounting for 75.6% of all the 45 large industrial enterprises. Production capacity has also been gradually restored, as 9 large enterprises with production and sales of over RMB10 billion have fully or partially resumed production, such as Shaanxi Automobile Holdings Limited and Samsung (China) Semiconductor Co., Ltd.

On February 10, Shaanxi Fast Auto Drive Group Co., Ltd. headquartered in Xi’an, began to resume production. With strictly implemented epidemic prevention measures, it has promptly restarted multiple production lines like the gear processing line in order to meet urgent market needs. On February 14, Shaanxi Automobile Holdings also resumed production, with more than 2,000 employees back to work and one production line restarted. More than 12,000 employees have so far returned to work at Huawei Xi’an Research Institute. Micron Semiconductor (Xi’an) Co., Ltd. has restored 80% of its production capacity.

Xi’an International Trade and Logistics Park, China’s largest inland port, has set up a green channel service. With the service, trucks do not need to stop, drivers do not need to get out of their cockpits, and traffic does not need to wait outside of the station. Epidemic prevention measures are fully implemented, such as disinfection and decontamination, temperature measurement and registration. All these measures help ensure the smooth operation of the China-Europe Chang’an freight train service. The China-Europe Chang’an freight train made a total of 200 trips in January, 2.4 times that of the same period last year. Affected by the outbreak, the Chang’an international freight train has slowed down its operation, but it still maintains the frequency of one trip per day.

As enterprises resume production, personnel mobility is increasing. In order to stop the virus from spreading, the Xi’an government provides “one-on-one” services for enterprises returning to work, to help them implement prevention and control measures such as quarantine and observation, nucleic acid testing and environmental decontamination. Meanwhile, the government is fully committed to coordinating efforts to solve problems that these enterprises face regarding personnel, transportation, dining and accommodation. The Xi’an government introduces a number of measures to help small and medium-sized enterprises resume work, such as reducing or exempting rents, providing interest subsidies, and helping enterprises develop markets.

Xi’an will centrally arrange a special fund of 200 million yuan to support the employment of local enterprises, and a special fund of 1 billion yuan to support local enterprises in vocational training for employees. Xi’an will offer a full subsidy for the expenses of the enterprises incurred in transporting employees with booked vehicles and train compartments; offer a partial subsidy for the transportation costs of personnel returning to work on their own; and offer a full subsidy for the costs of nucleic acid testing.

GENEVA: Switzerland will host the 5th Global Ministerial Summit on Patient Safety which will take place on 27-28 February 2020 in Montreux, Switzerland.

Since their inception in 2016, the Global Ministerial Summits on Patient Safety have succeeded in raising awareness, as well as creating and maintaining the momentum of the global patient safety movement, as evidenced by the recent adoption of the WHA-resolution on the “Global Action on Patient Safety”, which enabled the first-ever World Patient Safety Day in September 2019. One of the key challenges facing patient safety today consists of ensuring the appropriate and sustainable implementation of suitable concepts and approaches, crucial to ensure the success of the WHA-resolution.

Building on the success of past summits, the 2020 Summit will focus on this critical issue, with the slogan “Less Harm Better care – from Resolution to Implementation” as the central theme. The Summit will acknowledge the progress made thus far and, at the same time, contemplate the future of this global public health endeavor. As patient safety concerns a wide spectrum of health care issues and policies, such as governance, surgical safety and health care-acquired infections, the 2020 Summit will incorporate the corresponding thematic aspects. It will strive to show how successful and sustainable implementation can be attained in different contexts and settings.

As in previous years, the 2020 Summit will consist of two days. The first day will gather international stakeholders and world-class experts in the field of patient safety and the second day will unite Ministers from all over the world to exchange information and good practices on these topics.

ISLAMABAD: In occupied Kashmir, Indian troops in their fresh act of state terrorism, have martyred two more Kashmiri youth in Anantnag-Islamabad area of the valley.

According to a report of Kashmir Media Service, the youth were martyred during search operation in Naina Sangham area.

ISLAMABAD: Pakistan has strongly condemned the heinous attacks in Hanau, Germany which resulted in the loss of a number of innocent lives and injuries to many others.

In a statement on Friday, Foreign Office Spokesperson Aisha Farooqui said Pakistan stands in solidarity with government and people of Germany in this hour of grief. She also expressed deep condolences to the Turkish Government over the loss of innocent Turks in the shootings.

She said Pakistan remains deeply concerned at the rising tide of Islamophobia, xenophobia and racial hatred sweeping across many parts of the world.

Aisha Farooqui reiterated call for concerted efforts to root out ideologies of hate, as well as address the underlying causes of hate crimes.

She said Pakistan is ready to partner with Germany and all like-minded states in efforts to confront and counter Islamophobia, and to promote greater inter-religious and inter-civilizational harmony and understanding.