ICCI for focusing on horticulture products to improve exports
ISLAMABAD (INP): Government should provide all possible support to farmers for improving productivity of fruits & vegetables as there is high demand for these Pakistani products in the international market. This was stressed by Muzzamil Hussain Sabri, President, ICCI. He said with improvement in quality and value addition, fruits & vegetables could become an important source of foreign exchange earnings for the country. He said Pakistan holds immense potential to promote exports of fruits & vegetables and capture better share in the global horticulture market of over $180 billion. However, the share of Pakistan in international horticulture market is just 0.3pc.

and its main reason is that fruits & vegetables sectors have received minimal research, development and other supportive services from the government.

The result is that the country could not fully harness the export potential of its fruits & vegetable products so far as the fruit exports were just $438 million in financial year 2014.
He said due to the insufficient attention of the government, the total production of fruits has gradually declined from around 7.0 million tons in 2009 to 6.52 million tons in 2013 which should be a cause of concerns for the policy makers. He said due to lack of support from the government, many farmers have reduced production of fruits while lack of required investment in orchard management, and failure to contain post-harvest losses are other factors that are holding back this sector from better development.
Muzzamil Sabri said another key obstacle in the way of improving the per-tree production of various fruits is the lack of knowledge about specific diseases of fruits and the medicinal spray required to fight it. He said most of the pesticides being used are imported and prove very costly, especially for small and medium-sized farmers. Therefore, there is urgent need to focus on local production of pesticides for this sector.

Tevta will train 25,000 prisoners in Punjab
Lahore (Staff Reporter): TEVTA will train 25,000 prisoners in prisons across the province of Punjab. They will be offered 15 vocational industry demand driven short courses. In first phase, TEVTA will train 6400 prisoners in one year at 13 different jails. This was stated by Chairperson TEVTA Irfan Qaiser Sheikh in a meeting here. Inspector General Prisons Mian Farooq Nazeer, Chief Operating Officer TEVTA Jawad Ahmed Qureshi, D.I.G. Prisons Naveed Rauf, General Managers Hamid Ghani Anjum, Azhar Iqbal Shad, Abdul Qayyum and other officers were also present on this occasion. Irfan Qaiser Sheikh said that the prisoners male, female and juvenile undergoing sentence will be imparted demand driven vocational training.
These courses include home appliances repair, electrician, wood work / carpenter, beautician, domestic tailoring, welder, plumber, motor cycle mechanic, tractor mechanic, machine embroidery, computer applications, motor winding, fashion designing, hand embroidery, industrial stitching. The objective of imparting this training is to make them more useful citizen of the society. This training is being conducted as per vision of Chief Minister Punjab Mian Muhammad Shahbaz Sharif to impart Technical Education and Vocational Training in all segment of society.

PARC and Jobs Trust sign MoU in agri research cooperation
ISLAMABAD (INP): Pakistan Agricultural Research Council (PARC) and Jobs Trust (an NGO) Friday signed a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) for scientific and technical cooperation in agricultural research, development and promotion of new innovations, technologies, products and services. The MoU was signed by Dr Munir Ahmad, Secretary PARC and Ms. Shahnaz Akhtar Chairman Jobs Trust on behalf of their respective organizations. According to the MoU, both the organisations would mutually cooperate for sharing scientific knowledge, laboratory testing facility, innovations, services and products. They would jointly organise the technical expertise of horticulturists for training of Jobs Trust staff.
According to the MoU technical assistance would be provided to Agricultural and Biological Engineering Institute (ABEI), NARC engineers for improvement of solar dryer being used by communities in jobs.

LSE suspends trading in shares of 55 defaulter companies
LAHORE (Staff Reporter): The Lahore Stock Exchange has decided to suspend trading in shares of 55 defaulter companies. A notice No. 1380 dated March 26, 2015, issued by the LSE, stated the a numer of companies have failed to comply with the instructions of the Exchange to fulfill the requirements of Listing Regulation No. 30(1)(e) i.e. payment of outstanding Annual Listing Fee within 90 days i.e. upto June 26, 2015. It stated that in view of the Listing Regulation No. 30(2)(b), trading in the shares of the companies will be suspended w.e.f. June 29, 2015, in exercise of the powers vested in the Exchange under Sub-Section (7) of Section 9 of the Securities & Exchange Ordinance, 1969 and Regulation No. 30(2)(b) of the Listing Regulations.
The companies will also be placed at the defaulter counter of the Exchange. The companies will be required to rectify the default within 30 days i.e. up to July 29, 2015. The cases of the companies will also be forwarded to the SECP for initiating further action under the Companies Ordinance, 1984 against the companies/management as may be deemed appropriate.

PTCL to provide connectivity during undersea work
KARACHI (PR): The international submarine cable SEA-ME-WE 4 has experienced a fault in Arabian Sea, impacting internet services in the region including Pakistan. The restoration work has been initiated by the international consortium that manages the submarine cable systems. PTCL by virtue of its investments in diversified International submarine cable systems, has already undertaken necessary measures to provide internet connectivity to its customers across Pakistan. However, due to the fault in this undersea cable, the internet users may experience slow browsing during this period. The company regrets any inconvenience caused to its valuable customers during this restoration period.
PTCL customers can contact helpline 1236 for further information.