Taiwan keen to boost two-way trade
LAHORE (Staff Reporter): Taiwani businessmen on Tuesday showed keen interest in working with their Pakistani counterparts to give boost to two-way trade between the two countries. This was stated by the members of 22-member Taiwan business delegation. LCCI President Farooq Iftikhar also spoke on the occasion. The head of Taiwan delegation Ms Helen Lin, Director Taiwan External Trade Development Council Mr Lin Tang-Te gave a detailed briefing on Taiwan’s economy.
Ms Helen Lin said that the issue of visa to Pakistani businessmen would be taken up with the Taiwan government to help increase exchange of trade delegations between the two countries.
Speaking on the occasion, the LCCI President Farooq Iftikhar called for transfer of technology and Joint ventures between the two sides. He said that Pakistan has a marvelous potential in all sectors of the economy that needs to be tapped. He said that Pakistan itself is a market of over 180 million people while a gateway to landlocked Central Asian States.

SBP Governor to open SME Conference tomorrow
LAHORE (Staff Reporter): SBP Governor Yaseen Anwar will be the Chief Guest and inaugurate the 7TH Pakistan SME Conference 2013 at a local hotel. The SBP Chief will also be delivering the Keynote address.  Several key organizations besides the SBP, Commercial Banks, SMEDA, BSF of the Ministry of Finance, LCCI, IFC-World Bank and UNISAME will be participating in the conference which now serves as a bench mark to address issues and pressing needs of the SME sector in Pakistan.
The SBP has emphasized the importance of the SME sector in the development of nation’s economy.

Entrepreneurship moot to be held on 21st
KARACHI (Staff Reporter): DawoodGlobal Foundation (DGF) has announced 4th LadiesFund Entrepreneurship Conference will be held on Sept 21st. Tara Uzra Dawood, President of DGF said “We are delighted to be showcasing the best of global and Pakistani entrepreneurial talent and to be bringing the world to Pakistan for this event, This year’s theme for LEC is “Game Changers,” and the event will feature speakers from Turkey, France, Germany, Indonesia, UK and Switzerland as well as the best of local entrepreneurship.
Sherry Rehman is giving the keynote address, former UK First Lady Cherie Blair has sent a special video message,  pop star Zoe Viccaji is singing the national anthem and the day is jam-packed with cutting-edge panels, interactive workshops, educational presentations, theater performances, Yoga Stretch Break and Indonesian cultural dance. The event is a fundraiser for vocational scholarships for grassroots girls for media studies at the Institute of Journalism as part of the LadiesFund Educate a 1000 Girls Programme.
German CG Dr Tilo Klinner, a representative of the French Consulate, President of LadiesFund Student Advisory Board Maheen Khan  and Ambassador and LEC2013 Moderator Zeenat Saeed Ahmed also attend the occasion.

Body formed to address Gizsri fishermen issues
KARACHI (Staff Reporter): The civil society organisations and rights defenders on Tuesday formed a joint action committee named ‘Gizri Fisherfolk Solidarity Committee’ in order to address the issue of Gizsri fishermen. This was decided at a consultative meeting organised by the Pakistan Fisherfolk Forum (PFF), which attracted a large number of civil society representatives to express solidarity with the fishermen of Gizri, whose livelihood is under threats due to closure of their routes to traditional jetties by DHA.
The meeting was convened to discuss the hostility of Defence Housing Authority (DHA), which earlier promised to build a separate jetty with pathway for the community workforce to land their catch and move it to the market without any disruption. But later the authority stopped entrance of the community, due to this hundreds of workers are sitting idle at the home for the last several months.
The meeting designed a three-month long action plan to take up the issue, facing the fishermen of Gizri neighborhood of Karachi.

Foreign firm keen to invest in Pakistan
LAHORE  (Staff Reporter): Amjad A. Khan, Managing Director NESPAK, held a series of meetings with French and UK companies’ executives to discuss potential business opportunities in Pakistan especially in engineering and energy sector. He met Mr. Bruno Dupety, Executive Vice President/Chief Operating Officer and Mr. Julien Rayssiguier, Sr. Vice President of VINCI Group in Islamabad. Vinci is a French concessions company specializing in Civil Engineering. It has operations in over 100 countries.
Managing Director made a presentation about Nespak’s capabilities in the engineering consultancy sector and discussed the possibilities of jointly securing projects in Pakistan and other countries, which will create new job opportunities for the people of Pakistan and will be beneficial for national growth of the Country.

Lucky Cement records highest profit
LAHORE (Staff Reporter): Lucky Cement Limited recorded the highest ever profit after tax of Rs. 9.714 billion for the year ending 30th June 2013, which is 43.2% higher than last year’s net profit of Rs. 6.782. The company announced a cash dividend of Rs. 8 per share for the year ended on June 30 2013 as its EPS soared to Rs. 30.04 per share versus Rs. 20.97 per share achieved last year.   Lucky Cement’s gross profit swelled by 31.44% during the year to Rs. 16.721b as compared to Rs. 12.721b reported last year.
Higher sales volume coupled with better retention prices attributed to the record breaking profit declared. The local sales volume during the year under review registered a growth of 1.3% that rose to 3.77 million tons as compared to 3.72 million tons last year.