Chinese embassy lauds PCJCCI endeavours

LAHORE (Staff Reporter): Zhao Lijian, chargé d'affaires, Embassy of China, has appreciated the Pak China Joint Chamber of Commerce and Industry for undertaking a successful move to bridge in the communication gap between peoples of China and Pakistan. In a meeting with S.M. Naveed along with the secretary general Salahuddin Hanif, he acknowledged the contribution of PCJCCI in this regard and especially applauded the initiative of publishing the first Chinese-Urdu dictionary and Chinese Language Learning Book in Pakistan. Zhao highly appreciated PCJCCI for bridging up the language barrier. He said that the platforms like PCJCCI, which are promoting and facilitating common masses for acquiring Chinese language knowledge, are the great contributors of growth in currently growing relations between China and Pakistan. He highly acknowledged the foresightedness of PCJCCI for realizing the need of exclusive Chinese publications designed to ease people of both China and Pakistan. Naveed apprised Charge D’ affairs with the services of PCJCCI.

He informed that Pak China Chamber has been formed and working to identify the inherent trade & investment potential besides suggesting the ways to combat challenges/threats to sustained momentum  of economic co-operation through collaborative efforts of both countries.

Economy at critical stage: LCCI

LAHORE (Staff Reporter): LCCI President Malik Tahir Javaid has said that economy of Pakistan is at the critical stage therefore ground realities must be kept in view to move in right direction. He was speaking at the launching ceremony of LCCI Research Report on State of Pakistan’s Economy. LCCI Senior Vice President Khawaja Khawar Rashid, Vice President Zeshan Khalil, Dr. Hafeez Pasha, Shahid Hassan Sheikh, Amjad Ali Jawa, Awais Saeed Piracha, Fahim-ur-Rehman Saigol, Tehmina Saeed Chaudhry, Javed Bhatti, Mian Waqar and others also spoke on the occasion. The LCCI President said that economy would continue to slide if we continue to depend on fantasy of statistics. He said that government and private sector must join hands to establish a trustable database of economic facts that would help tackling the issue in a good manner. While giving breakup of economic facts and figures, Malik Tahir Javaid that the target of real GDP growth rate was 8% whereas the actual growth has remained modest and expected to reach as high as 6% per annum.

He said that the target was to increase annual private sector investment in Punjab to $17.5 billion by 2018 but the investment activity has been below the target.

 AIIB expands membership to 84

BEIJING (Xinhua/APP): The Asian Infrastructure Investment Bank (AIIB) announced Tuesday that its board of governors had approved the Cook Islands, Vanuatu, Belarus and Ecuador to join the Bank. The addition brings AIIB's total approved membership to 84. "The steady expansion of our membership represents a vote of confidence in AIIB by the international community," said AIIB President Jin Liqun. The four prospective members will officially join AIIB once they complete the required domestic processes and deposit the first installment of capital with the Bank. The shares allocated to the new prospective members come from AIIB's existing pool of unallocated shares. Since its launch in January 2016, AIIB's approved membership has risen from 57 to 84, expanding reach within Asia and across the world. "As we start our third year of operations, we look forward to further expanding our membership and strengthening our role in the international financial community," said Sir Danny Alexander, AIIB vice president and corporate secretary.

Headquartered in Beijing, the AIIB is a multilateral development bank focused on infrastructure investment, with a mission to improve social and economic outcomes in Asia and beyond.

Earlier this month, the AIIB approved a 250-million-US dollar loan for a natural gas project in China and a 335-million-U.S. dollar loan for an electric metro project in Bangalore, India.

 ICST for announcing new gas mix formula

ISLAMABAD (INP): Islamabad Chamber of Small Traders on Tuesday said the government has decided to provide gas at uniform prices for industrial consumers across the country which is getting the mixed response from the industrial consumers. The industries dependent on cheap local gas are opposing the move because they will have to pay more for the energy while the industrial sector using imported gas is welcoming the decision as they will see a substantial cut in the cost of doing business. The industrial sector in Punjab is paying four times higher rate for the gas which is imported while the industries in other provinces are using local gas which is cheaper which has resulted in issues like increased cost of doing business for the Punjab-based industrial sector, said Patron Islamabad Chamber of Small Traders Shahid Rasheed Butt. The textile mills in Punjab have long been demanding uniform tariff for gas while the millers of Sindh are opposing this move, therefore, the government has decided to mix bother gases to bring uniformity in the energy prices, he added.

He said that the government has decided to sell mixed gas but so far a formula including the pricing has not been devised to make this happen which is adding to the anxiety of the business community.

Mixing gas can make matters complex which can deter private and foreign investors, the business leader said, adding that natural gas mixed with LNG will ensure energy security.

Mixed gas will be supplied to the industries by mixing LNG with natural gas that would lead to slight price hike but would be more profitable for the businessmen.