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PR. NO. 106. Federal Tax Ombudsman Justice ® Munir A. Sheikh has asked Federal Board of Revenue (FBR) to re-open assessment orders passed by the Custom Department Lahore and decide the cases of the complainant on merit. This decision was taken by the Federal Tax Ombudsman on the complaint of M/s Aamir Brothers, Lahore who had imported three consignments of goods of bicycle chains, tyres and tubes from China and filed Goods Declaration at the customs department for the clearance of his imported goods but the Department passed three final assessment orders on the complainant before the date of actual date of hearing. The FTO has ruled that the Department has committed an act of maladministration to decide the assessment cases on 10.3.2008 before the complainant could avail opportunity of hearing which was notified on 12.3.2008. He has observed that the impugned orders passed in the complainant‘s case militate against all norms of natural justice. The FTO has recommended to the FBR to direct competent authority to reopen all three assessment orders under Customs Act, 1969, set aside the orders and decide these cases on their merits in accordance with the provisions of law after providing the complainant the opportunity of being heard so as to enable him to defend his cases and compliance in this regard be reported within 30 days of the receipt of this order. FK/AR.
PR. No. 107. Mr. Regis d Belenet, Ambassador of France met Finance Minister, Syed Naveed Qamar here today. Both the sides discussed matters of mutual interest, exchanging views on the history of Pak-France relationship spread over a period of decades. It was agreed that Pakistan and France share concerns on changing global eco-political scene, and would like to join hands to address the economic and political issues of the region. The Finance Minister stressed the need for enhanced economic and trade relationship with France to the mutual benefit of both the countries. The French Ambassador to Pakistan has completed his tenure in Pakistan and is leaving back for his home country shortly. The Ambassador stated that he is taking back with him a comprehensive framework of his assessment about Pak economy, foreign investment opportunities and overall national priorities of the GOP. This would provide necessary input to the Government of France in promoting the bilateral relationship in its forthcoming policy priorities. Finance Minister said that the current democratic government in Pakistan is taking measures to tide over existing economic problems, focusing enhancement in food production, agri yield, and finally trade and investment. Moreover, GOP is committed to facilitate the French Companies operating in Pakistan on a variety of development projects. The Government would like to welcome French support in manufacturing and industrial sectors, Finance Minister said. French Ambassador added that French Development Agencies currently are interacting with GOP and its Provincial Setups on the subject of livestock, agriculture, food processing and other economy related sectors like cement, energy and infrastructure development. Both the countries may work out implementation modalities of French Government’s soft loan offer targeting civic development projects like water treatment and desalination in the Provinces of Punjab and Sindh, it was concluded. NJ/AR.
PR. No. 108.
The Senate Committee on Rules of Procedure
and Privileges, which met at the Parliament House today under the
chairmanship of Senator Syed Tahir Hussain Mashhadi, has expressed its
complete dissatisfaction over the progress made so far with regard to
probe into the murder of four members of Senator Hafiz Abdul Malik Qadri’s
family including his son and brother, despite a lapse of more than two
months.
PR. No. 109. Mr. Regis d Belenet, Ambassador of France met Syed Naveed Qamar Federal Minister for Finance, Privatisation & Investment here today. The Finance Minister stressed the need for enhanced economic and trade relationship with France to the mutual benefit of both the countries. The Finance Minister informed the envoy that the current democratic government in Pakistan was taking measures to tide over existing economic problems, focusing enhancement in food production, agri yield, trade and investment. Moreover, GOP was committed to facilitate the French Companies operating in Pakistan on a variety of development projects. The Government would like to welcome French support in manufacturing and industrial sectors, Finance Minister said. The French Ambassador to Pakistan who has completed his tenure in Pakistan and is leaving back for his home country shortly stated that he was taking back with him a comprehensive framework of his assessment about Pak economy, foreign investment opportunities and overall national priorities of the GOP. This would provide necessary input to the Government of France in promoting the bilateral relationship in its forthcoming policy priorities, he added. The French envoy further informed that French Development Agencies currently were interacting with GOP and its Provincial Setups on the subject of livestock, agriculture, food processing and other economy related sectors like cement, energy and infrastructure development. Both the countries may work out implementation modalities of French Government’s soft loan offer targeting civic development projects like water treatment and desalination in the Provinces of Punjab and Sindh, he stated. Both the sides also discussed other matters of mutual interest, and exchanged views on the history of Pak-France relationship spread over a period of decades. It was agreed that Pakistan and France would share concerns on changing global eco-political scene, and would like to join hands to address the economic and political issues of the region. TP/AR.
PR. No. 110. ANP President, Mr. Asfandyar Wali called on Prime Minister Syed Yousuf Raza Gilani at the PM’s House here today. The Prime Minister remained with Mr. Asfandyar Wali for a couple of hours and they lunched together. The two leaders discussed issues of mutual interest. The meeting was held in a pleasant atmosphere. DSG/ank
PR. No. 111. Air Chief Marshal, Mr. Tanveer Mahmood called on Prime Minister Syed Yousuf Raza Gilani at the PM’s Secretariat here today.
DSG/ank
PR. No. 112. Foreign Secretary, Mr. Salman Bashir called on Prime Minister Syed Yousuf Raza Gilani at the PM’s Secretariat this morning. The Foreign Secretary discussed with the Prime Minister matters relating to Pakistan’s international relations. DSG/ank
PR. No. 113. Jamiat-e-Ulema-e-Islam (F) Chief, Maulana Fazlur Rahman called on Prime Minister Syed Yousuf Raza Gilani at the PM’s House here today. The Prime Minister remained with Maulana Fazlur Rehman for a couple of hours and they had lunched together. Issues of mutual interest came under discussion in the meeting. The meeting was held in a pleasant atmosphere. DSG/ank
PR. No. 114. Deputy Chairman ERRA, Lt. General Akram Sajjad called on Prime Minister Syed Yousuf Raza Gilani at the PM’s Secretariat this morning. He apprised the Prime Minister of the progress on a number of development projects in various sectors in the affected areas of AJ&K and NWFP. DSG/ank
PR. No. 115. A meeting was held in Ministry of Defence today under the chairmanship of Federal Minister for Defence Ch. Ahmad Mukhtar, which discussed and reviewed the salient features of the draft New National Aviation Policy. Director General Civil Aviation Authority (CAA), Mr. Farooq Rehmatullah, gave comprehensive presentation to the Minister on the new draft Policy. The meeting deliberated at length on the various aspects of the Policy and noted that it should be in line with the national requirements and cater to the needs of traveling passengers, besides promoting and encouraging cargo transshipment hubs so as to support and facilitate the objectives of National Trade Corridor Policy (NTCP). Addressing the participants of the meeting, the Minister said that the main focus of the New Policy should be to promote aviation sector and provide maximum opportunities to domestic airlines and entrepreneurs to enter this field and play their role in boosting the commerce and trade sectors of the country. He said that the New Policy, after approval by the cabinet, would tremendously contribute toward the development of national economy. He further stated that the principal purpose of the new policy would be to provide maximum services and facilities to the traveling passengers as well as to boost the commerce and trade sector of the country. Apart from the Minister, the meeting was attended by Secretary Defence, Mr. Kamran Rasul, Additional Secretary Major General Mir Haider Ali Khan, Director General CAA and other senior officials of Ministry of Defence. AM/ank
PR. No. 116. The Australian High Commissioner, Ms. Zorica McCarthy, and the Ambassador of Turkmenistan to Pakistan, Mr. Sapar Beriniyazov, separately called on Federal Minister for Defence, Ch. Ahmad Mukhtar, and discussed with him matters of common interests, here today. In his meeting with Australian envoy, the Minister said that Pakistan attached great importance to its ties with Australia as the two countries had excellent relations in various fields, besides having a commonality of perceptions on various regional and international issues. Both sides underscored the need or enhanced and closer cooperation in the areas of trade, economy and defence. The meeting agreed to further promote and expand bilateral cooperation for the mutual benefits of the two countries. In his meeting with the Ambassador of Turkmenistan, the Minister said that Pakistan and Turkmenistan enjoyed excellent relationship based on common culture, heritage and shared religion. The meeting exchanged view on matters of bilateral importance and noted that there existed a vast scope of cooperation in the spheres of trade, economy, culture and defence which needed to be explored and utilized for the mutual benefits of the two countries. AM/ank
PR. No. 117. Finance Minister, Syed Naveed Qamar chaired First National Steering Committee Meeting to review the strategy and implementation mechanism for immediate relief to needy household families under Benazir Income Support Programme (BISP) in Finance Division here today. Earlier the ECC of the Cabinet in its meeting held on 6th May, 2008 decided to constitute a Ministerial Committee headed by Finance Minister to finalize a comprehensive plan over the subject taking into account the end result of immediate relief to the needy household families and also finalize scheme for the grant of targeted subsidy on essential food items to them. The National Steering Committee held its first meeting to review the structure of the programme, determine policy respecting efficient targeting and disbursement criteria mechanism, financing of the programme and the overall policy framework for its execution. The government has launched BISP with an initial allocation of Rs.34 billion to be disbursed amongst the target households. The programme envisages cash grant of Rs.1,000/- per month aiming to provide relief to the economically stressed segments of the society in face of the spiraling prices of the essential commodities. The selection will be made through computerized NADRA database under the preset criteria. Computerized National Identity Card (CNIC) will be used as primary database. Those not having CNIC will be encouraged to apply for a card free of cost and data will be continuously updated to include eligible households. The committee noted that BISP in terms of vision is focused to compensate the most economically stressed and vulnerable sections of the population on account of high inflation particularly food inflation and reduce existing inequalities. The broad areas identified for improvement relate to ensuring government’s role in ameliorating the conditions of the poor by directly accessing them to supplement their income sources, screen profiles of the poor to assess their eligibility and determine coverage, targeting efficiency and adequacy of the programme. It further aims to identify benchmarking of the target groups. NJ/ank
PR. No. 118. Mr. Jehngir Tareen, MNA called on Prime Minister Syed Yousuf Raza Gilani at the PM’s House here today. The Prime Minister and Mr. Tareen discussed various issues of mutual interest. DSG/ank
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