LCCI IT Exhibition starts today at Alhama Art Gallery
LAHORE (Staff Reporter): Three-day Information Technology Exhibition of the Lahore Chamber of Commerce & Industry is starting on Thursday, February 11 (today) at Alhamra Art Gallery. The Exhibition will continue till 13th. Leading businessmen, top government functionaries, Information Technology experts would part of this mega exhibition. LCCI President Sheikh Muhammad Arshad, Senior Vice President Almas Hyder and Vice President Nasir Saeed said that the LCCI Exhibition on Information Technology is a giant leap towards promotion of IT based economy. They said that in today’s world, IT knowledge is of prime importance as not only it unlocks the doors of progress and prosperity but also provides a chance to get access to global opportunities.

Egyptian companies interested in Pakistan’s construction sector
ISLAMABAD (INP): Sherif Mohamed Kamaleldin Shaheen, Ambassador of Egypt to Pakistan, has said that Egyptian companies considered Pakistan’s construction sector a promising area for investment and they were looking for partners in Pakistan for investment and joint ventures. He said China-Pakistan Economic Corridor will have positive implications for Egypt as it would lead to easy movement in Suez Canal as well. He said tourism was another potential area of cooperation between Egypt and Pakistan as Egypt has good expertise in this field and could help Pakistan in developing its tourism industry. He expressed these views during an interaction with business community at Islamabad Chamber of Commerce and Industry.
Egyptian envoy said that Pakistan and Egypt enjoyed excellent political and military relations which should be transformed into growing trade and economic relations as the bilateral trade was not according to the true potential of both countries. He said Asia was emerging as a big market and Pakistan was an important country for Egypt to reap business and economic benefits from this region.
Sherif Shaheen said Pakistan and Egypt has good potential for developing cooperation in many fields and establishing direct contacts between the entrepreneurs of both countries was key to achieve these objectives. He said Pakistan could also get better market access to African market by developing strong cooperation with Egypt. He said ICCI should form a delegation for Egypt to explore new areas of mutual collaboration and his Embassy would facilitate in making its visit successful.
In his welcome address, AtifIkram Sheikh, President, Islamabad Chamber of Commerce and Industry said that Pakistan and Egypt enjoyed historically good relations and it was necessary that both countries should facilitate frequent exchange of trade delegations and organizing single country exhibitions to explore new avenues of improving bilateral trade and economic relations.
He said many Pakistani products including pharmaceuticals, fruits & vegetables, textiles, sports goods, surgical instruments, IT and others could find good market in Egypt. He said Pakistan and Egypt should focus on removing all the bottlenecks hampering bilateral trade and facilitate private sectors in establishing strong business linkages so that businessmen could play leading role in promoting trade relations. Sheikh Pervez Ahmed Senior Vice President and Sheikh Abdul Waheed Vice President ICCI also spoke at the occasion and shared ideas for bringing the two brotherly Islamic countries even closer.

70,000 workers sent abroad in one month: POEPA
ISLAMABAD (INP): Pakistan Overseas Employment Promoters Association (POEPA) on Wednesday said 70000 workers have been sent abroad in one month despite global recession and shrinking job markets.This has reduced unemployment in the country while ensuring decent life for dependants and will improve forex situation, it said. Speaking to a function, the newly elected Chairman of POEPA Chaudhry Muhammad Afzal said that uniform visa fee has been imposed across the country while rest of the charges have been declared illegal which has improved the situation. He warned that those promoters who tried to get any extra charges would face action that include cancellation of their licences.
Ch. Muhammad Afzal said that job promoters can turn economy around be sending more manpower abroad but this is tied to cooperation by the government.
He said that Saudi Arabia is not only the most powerful and stable economy in the world but a great market for Pakistani expats from where we receives almost six billion dollars per annum.
He said that remittances and liked to reduction in poverty therefore this sector should get attention as exports continue to dwindle despite best efforts which is to increase budget deficit.
Recipients of remittances spent 22 percent on real estate, 18 percent on food, 17 percent on marriages and rest on miscellaneous expenses, he said adding that it benefits all facets of economy with lions share worth Rs 450 billion going to real estate.
He called for an ambitious plan to boost number of expats which are now nine million that can resolve many pressing problems country is facing.

Online complaint management system for migrant workers
ISLAMABAD (NNI): In order to resolve issues and problems being faced by migrant workers and overseas Pakistanis on fast track basis, Ministry of Overseas Pakistanis and Human Resource Development, with the support of European Union and the International Labour Organization, has launched a 3-years project titled “Online Complaint Management System for Migrant Workers and Overseas Pakistanis.” The project aims to address the grievances of overseas Pakistanis on fast track basis and will focus on promoting effective governance of labour migration from South Asia through action on Labour Market Information, protection during recruitment and Employment, skills and development impact.
Addressing on this occasion, Federal Minister for Overseas Pakistanis and Human Resource Development, Pir Sadruddin Rashidi said that the government is well aware of the problems being faced by 8 million overseas Pakistanis working/ living in the different countries of the world and recent Government is giving top priority to address the problems of overseas Pakistanis. He further said that overseas Pakistanis bring substantial benefits particularly in the shape of remittances which is strengthening our economy.
Federal Secretary, OP& HARD, Khizer Hayat Khan, Representatives of European Union and ILO were also present on the occasion. The Minister thanked the European Union and ILO for their support in developing this system and hope that the project will facilitate overseas Pakistanis particularly migrant workers for resolution of their problems on fast track basis.

Pakistan Oilfields earns Rs2.3b

LAHORE (Staff Reporter): Pakistan Oilfields Limited has announced earnings of Rs2.3 billion in 2QFY16 against Rs1.2b in 2QFY15. This result was above market’s consensus estimates. The result also accompanied an interim cash dividend of Rs15/share. POL posted net sales of Rs6.5bn, down 20 percent YoY. This was mainly due to 46 percent YoY fall in Arab Light Crude price (benchmark for local E&P companies) during 2QFY16 quarter. During the outgoing quarter, POL’s oil volumes shrunk by 2 percent YoY to 6.3k barrels of oil per day (bopd). However, gas volume increased by 10 percent YoY to 72mmcfd. Substantial surge in earnings can be attributed to lower exploration charges which went down considerably by 98 percent to Rs61mn.
This was in absence of any major write-off. To recall, POL booked charges for dry and abandoned wells amounting to Rs2.6b in 2QFY15.