IT park ground breaking by next year: Anusha Rehman
ISLAMABAD (Staff Reporter): State Minister for IT & Telecom Anusha Rehman on Thursday said that information technology park would be reality soon and her ministry wishes to do the ground breaking by next year. Rehman, while addressing a seminar, said that majority of IT companies are operating out of residences at present and there is a need for new high tech office space with backup power, bandwidth, business centers, training centers, incubation centers, and research centers. Hence, she said, there is a huge requirement for state-of-the-art infrastructure in Pakistan from the IT industry so that companies can upscale their resources and capacity for megaprojects and Pakistan can achieve its real potential in the global IT industry.
PTA raids another illegal gateway exchange, confiscates equipment
ISLAMABAD (INP): PTA, in its ongoing efforts to control grey trafficking, has unearthed one illegal gateway exchange in Bahawalpur. According to details, one successful raid against the grey operators was carried out along with FIA teams at New Ghala Mandi Bahawalpur. Illegal exchange comprising of five gateways, multiple ports, alongwith other equipments like CPU, switches, SIMs, Laptop and PTCL Modem were confiscated. The successful raids against the grey operators were made possible because of continuous monitoring, commitment and persistent efforts by PTA in curbing the menace of grey traffic thus curtailing the loss to the national exchequer because of grey traffickers in the country.
Chinese delegation visits ICCI to
explore business collaborations
ISLAMABAD (INP): A large delegation of Chinese companies of Chongqing City, led by Mike Wang, visited ICCI to explore business collaborations with Pakistani counterparts. The Chinese companies were representing various sectors including manufacturers of automobiles and auto parts, security systems including biometric solutions, construction machinery, power generation equipment, water purification equipment and solid waste management systems etc. Speaking at the occasion, the Head of Chinese delegation Mike Wang said that their visit was a follow up of the decisions taken during the visit of Chinese President to Pakistan in April 2015 to further strengthen relations between the private sectors of both countries.
He said the current visit was to explore Pakistan for business potential and next time, more companies of Chongqing City of China would come to Pakistan to find out possibilities of joint ventures and investment. The Chinese companies gave a detailed presentation on their products which were being exported to USA, Europe and many other countries.
In his welcome address, Muzzamil Hussain Sabri, President, Islamabad Chamber of Commerce and Industry highlighted the investment potential in various sectors of Pakistan’s economy for Chinese investors.
He said that China-Pakistan Economic Corridor project was poised to create plenty of business opportunities for the entrepreneurs of both countries and stressed that maximum companies of Chongqing City of China should participate in the construction of this project.
He said Pakistan was a promising country for business and Chinese companies should put up manufacturing plants in our country in the areas of interest. He said China and Pakistan should facilitate and encourage regular interactions between their private sectors that would help in establishing more joint ventures and business partnerships in areas of interest leading to enhanced bilateral trade and economic relations between both countries.
M. Shakeel Munir Senior Vice President and M. Ashfaq Hussain Chatha, Vice President, Islamabad Chamber of Commerce and Industry also spoke at the occasion and offered useful suggestions for further strengthening connectivity between private sectors of both countries. The B2B meetings were also held and businessmen of both countries discussed the possibilities of business collaboration in areas of interest.
SECP signs MoU with university to collaborate on investor education
ISLAMABAD (INP): The SECP and the University of Lahore signed a memorandum of understanding (MoU) at the SECP headquarters to establish cooperation for conducting investor education seminars for the students. This is inline with the SECP’s investor education program launched under the brand name “Jamapunji” that can be accessed through: http// Jamapunji.pk. The MoU was signed by Akif Saeed, Commissioner, SECP, and Dr Mumtaz Ahmed Khan, Pro-Vice-Chancellor, University of Lahore. Following a presentation on the “Jampunji” investor education web portal, the Commissioner briefed on the importance of encouraging a savings culture among the students in Pakistan.
To ensure sustainability of the investor education program for all future semesters, the development of a “SECP Train the Trainer Program” was also discussed with the Pro-Vice-Chancellor. The signing ceremony was attended by senior SECP officials’ and commemorative plaques were also exchanged.
Under the MoU, SECP will now be holding regular seminars at the University of Lahore on a regular basis to educate existing and incoming students about the basics of savings, financial planning, investing and capital markets. Students will also learn about the Jamapunji web portal that has been specially developed for imparting investor education in Pakistan. Jamapunji offers comprehensive information about Pakistan’s investment products, capital markets, insurance and the non-banking financial sectors.
“By educating our university students through the SECP’s Jamapunji Investor Education Campaign, it is hoped that a new generation of financially literate potential investors, who are aware of their rights and responsibilities can be developed”, remarked the SECP Commissioner.
Sustainable production centre for textile industry inaugurated
LAHORE (Staff Reporter): A high profiled 10-member German delegation, led by the Parliamentary State Secretary of the Federal Ministry for Economic Cooperation and Development (BMZ), Thomas Silberhorn, visited the All Pakistan Textile Mills Association (APTMA) to meet the textile industry representatives. Silbernhorn inaugurated the newly established Sustainable Production Centre (SPC) for the textile industry of Pakistan at the APTMA premises. The main objective for establishing the SPC is to provide technical and advisory services to the textile industry of Pakistan on sustainable consumption and production related aspects. All major associations and stakeholders of the textile industry were present at the occasion.
In addition, topics such as energy efficiency, renewable energy, occupational health and safety (OHAS), water management and social standards in the textile industry were discussed. The German government has been supporting the industry to assist APTMA in adapting sustainable practices in its supply chains.
Earlier, Gohar Ejaz Patron in Chief APTMA, SM Tanveer, Chairman APTMA, welcomed the delegation and thanked the German govt for their support for entire textile industry value chain of Pakistan.