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PR
No. 329 Prime Minister Syed Yusuf Raza Gilani said that appointment of an Economist to tend Pakistan economy would be a good omen for the country. While chairing Economic Coordination Council’s meeting here this morning, the Prime Minister welcomed the new Advisor for Finance Mr. Abdul Hafeez Sheikh and said that in future the Advisor would chair the ECC meetings. The Cabinet members appreciated Prime Minister’s choice and assured their full cooperation to the Advisor in disposal of official business.
**PMMO/Ahmad**
Due to hot weather, the demand has raised and the system is currently facing a shortfall. Engro power plant of 218 MW has started its commercial operation from yesterday and it is expected that two more IPPs of 440 MW would start generation by end of next month. This addition will of new generation will help to bring down the power deficit. Power Situation Following is the power generation/situation data. Total Generation: 9622 MW Demand: 14832 MW Shortfall: 5210 MW Export to KESC 690 MW
PR No. 331 Prime Minister’s Housing for All Scheme will mitigate the shelter problem of the low income group to great extent. The Minister for Housing and Works Rahmatullah Kakar observed these views while presiding over a meeting to review the progress on the housing development activities in the country. The Minister said speedy completion of the housing units under PM’s Housing for All Program would provide relief to the poor, government servants and general public facing a lot of inconvenience due to not having their own house in the country. The Minister said that the Government was according high priority for the speedy development of the housing and construction sector which would help boost the economy, generate employment opportunities for the jobless youths. The Minister said that housing sector is directly linked with 47 industries and it would open up multi dimensional vistas for the promotion of business and trade development activities in the country. The Minister directed the concerned organizations to gear up the efforts and take cognizant measures for launching more housing projects in the country under Prime Minister’s Housing for All Program. The Minister reviewed progress on the construction of housing units in Karachi, Islamabad and other parts of the country and expressed satisfaction over its pace. He said that the government would encourage and facilitate the local and foreign investors to participate in the housing projects. **MN/Ahmad**
PR
No. 332 Federal Minister for Education Sardar Aseff Ahmed Ali has said that providing quality education to every child is the prime goal of the govt. He said that the future of Pakistan is strongly linked with the establishment of a sound and result oriented education system. We are presently living in an education revolution era and the nations neglecting education cannot even think of making progress in practical life, he added. He also said that the Government will allocate its best resources for the uplift of the education sector in Pakistan. He expressed these views while addressing the audience of prize distribution ceremony held at IMCB G-10/4 in Islamabad. The Minister said that in order to wash out the drain of illiteracy from Pakistan all forces will have to work on the war footings. The Minister also said that the concept of group learning be given popularity as now-a-days group learning is preferred to individual learning. The Minister also highlighted the role of media in eradication of illiteracy. He said that media can play a pivotal role in creating an environment for the knowledge revolution. We all need to work hard as the prosperity of our coming generations is strongly linked to knowledge and result oriented educational system driven by new paradigms of knowledge revolution era, he added. He felicitated the prize winner children and lauded the role of teachers for making their best efforts to produce remarkable results. **DO/Ahmad**
PR
No. 333 Dr. Fehmida Mirza, Speaker National Assembly has said that Pakistan attaches great importance to its relations with USA and was fully committed to a long-term, broad based and stable strategic relationship in diverse fields. She said that Pakistan desires to further enhance its existing relations through active engagement of the people and the two governments. She said this while talking to a 3-member Congressional delegation headed by David Price, Member of U.S House of Representative/Chairman House Democracy Partnership Initiative. Madam Speaker appreciated the U.S Administration’s Commitment to Pakistan’s stability, security and prosperity through support for economic and social sector development. She called for the need to identify core interests and to find common grounds to ally efforts for the U.S support for the emerging democracy in Pakistan and the challenges confronting the incumbent democratic setup. The Speaker said that the people in Pakistan have voted for progressive parties in country and were expecting much from their Parliament. She said that the new Parliament was committed to come up to expectations of the people. The Speaker stressed the need for enhanced interaction between the Parliamentarians of both the countries for sharing and learning from the experiences of each other. The Speaker said that terrorism and extremism were common enemies of humanity and can be purged through eliminating its root causes. She said that the biggest challenges Pakistan was facing were poverty alleviation, unemployment, illiteracy and energy crises and Pakistan needed US support in these areas besides its support in fight against terrorism. She stressed the need that US should establish relations with the people’s representatives besides establishing people to people contacts. Dr. Fehmida Mirza appreciated the launch of House Democracy Partnership Initiative of the U.S House of Representatives. She expressed her optimism that the parliamentary engagement would induce upward momentum in the existing parliamentary ties between both the parliaments and would provide opportunities to parliamentarians to share experience to improve parliamentary oversight. The Head of US Delegation David Price said that USA was interested to develop multi-faceted long term relations with Pakistan. He said US wanted Pakistan to be strong democratic country and was ready to support Pakistan in this regard. He underlined need to expedite efforts for ending terrorism and extremism from the region. He said that US would expand its support in economic, educational and social sector development. He assured the Speaker that US House of Representatives would extend its all-out intellectual and financial support to Parliament of Pakistan to enhance the capacity of parliamentarians and the parliamentary support staff in order to improve parliamentary oversight. **MT/Ahmad**
Federal Minister for Environment Hameed Ullah Jan Afridi has said that Hazardous chemicals are the biggest polluters of environment. These need to be brought under strict control through effective management. He also said that Pakistan is a staunch supporter of global efforts to combat terrorism as well as environmental degradation. He expressed these views while addressing in National Chemicals Forum (30-31 March, 2010) to profile the status of chemicals usage in Pakistan, organized by National MEAs Secretariat, IC Wing, Ministry of Environment, here today. He said in his address that a variety of chemicals play a pivotal role in bringing betterment to the lives of common folk. These chemicals have changed the course of modern history and have acted as catalyst in improving the living standard of human race. He said, on the other hand, it is also important to take utmost care in use of certain chemicals because of toxic effects they may generate for both living and non living components of the environment. Minister for Environment also said that Many development endeavors of humanity have unfortunately proved to be unwise and non-sustainable. In our enthusiasm for creating comforts, we have created several complications. Production and use of chemicals is a glaring example, he added. Afridi further said that global peril of hazardous chemicals has hit humanity in various forms, be it climate change, acid rains, cancer or endocrine and nervous system disruptions. Environment Minister told that Pakistan is a staunch supporter of global efforts to combat terrorism as well as environmental degradation. Under these circumstances Pakistan expects strong support from global as well as local actors. At present a pragmatic approach and more active role of all key stakeholders is the need of hour in Pakistan to protect human health and environment from harmful effects of developmental activities, particularly from harmful effects of hazardous chemicals. He said, the encouraging sign is that not only experts but younger generation also everywhere is taking a much keener interest in its surrounding habitat – and the new generation is determined to reverse the current pace of environmental degradation. He hoped that though their intelligent, efficient and effective deliberations, this opportunity will turn into a milestone in understanding of complex issues in chemicals management. He also hoped that outcome of this Forum will go a long way in combating the global menace of chemical hazards. Afridi told that government of Pakistan has taken concrete steps for protection of environment in general and synergistic implementation of the chemical related international environmental instruments.Ministry of Environment has, therefore, brought all the conventions under one roof of the National Multilateral Environmental Agreements Secretariat in International Cooperation Wing. Hameed Ullah Jan Afridi lauded the initiatives taken by MEAs Secretariat for making bold to catch the bull by horns and endeavoring to initiate work towards developing an integrated approach to environmentally sound chemicals management. Earlier Secretary, Ministry of Environment Muhammad Javed Malik, Joint Secretary IC Wing, National Focal Points SAICM, Abid Ali expressed their views. National SAICM Coordinator S. Zaheer Ahmed Gillani also addressed and told about objectives of the National Chemicals Forum and overviewed the SAICM process in Pakistan. Later on, Joint Secretary IC Wing, National Focal Points SAICM, Abid Ali presented Shields to Federal Minister and Secretary for Environment. Federal Minister for Environment also gave Shield to Joint Secretary IC Wing, National Focal Points SAICM, Abid Ali on this occasion Experts and Researchers from Ministry of Environment, Attached departments, Provincial governments , educational institutions and civil society participated in this forum. **MAS/Ahmad**
PR
No. 335 Prime Minister Syed Yusuf Raza Gilani said that appointment of an Economist to tend Pakistan economy would be a good omen for the country. Welcoming the new Advisor for Finance, Mr. Abdul Hafeez Sheikh at the commencement of the meeting of the Economic Coordination Committee of the Cabinet (ECC) held here today, the Prime Minister said that the Advisor would chair the meetings of the ECC in future. The ECC members appreciated the Prime Minister’s choice and the reputation of Mr. Abdul Hafeez Sheikh as a known economist and assured their full cooperation to the Advisor in disposal of official business. The Advisor for Finance, Mr. Abdul Hafeez Sheikh reciprocated the feelings and held the assurance that he would seek guidance from the Prime Minister and his Cabinet colleagues to manage the national economy for the betterment of the people.
The ECC reviewed the implementation status of the decisions taken in its
March 09, 2010 meeting. The Minister for Water & Power briefed the ECC about his
visit to
Faisalabad and proposed additional allocation of gas to generate additional
electricity to overcome the power shortage due to The ECC reviewed the key economic indicators and noted that during July –February 2009-10, the CPI-based inflation stood at 11.1% as against 23.5% in the same period last year. The ECC was informed that enough stocks of wheat and sugar were available in the country. The ECC was informed that various economic indicators have shown signs of improvement. The Quantum Index of Large-Scale Manufacturing (QIM) has registered a positive growth of 2.3%during July-January 2009-10 against negative growth rate of 5.4% during comparable period last year. While it grew by 7.5% in the month of January 2010 compared to negative growth of 8.9% in comparable month last year, Trade deficit improved by 19.5% to $ 9.4 billion in July-February 2009-2010 as against $ 4,918.6million, showing an increase of 17.7% over the same period last year. The UAE being the largest source of worker’s remittances accounted for 22.8% of the total remittance during the period under review. The international reserve position of Pakistan has strengthened as gross foreign exchange reserves stood at $ 14.9 billion as on March 25, 2010. FBR tax collection stood at Rs. 787.6 billion on net basis during July-February 2009-10 as compared to Rs. 708.0 billion in the same period last year, thereby posting an increase of 11.2%. Foreign Direct Investment (FDI) stood at $ 1,319.3 million during July-February 2009-10 as against $ 2,794.7 million in the comparable period of last year thereby showing a negative growth of 52.8%.The ECC approved subsidizing 1, 00,000 tons of wheat to be provided to USC at ex-PASSO stocks in order to ensure regular availability of wheat flour at the USC outlets serving the poor sections of the society. The ECC approved a number of measures to regulate milk prices in the country. The measures include strengthening of District Market Committees which will work out actual cost of milk / meat production and determine appropriate sale price of fresh milk / meat after every six months. A Monitoring Cell will be established in Provincial Livestock Departments to monitor the functions of District Market Committees. The Federal and the Provincial Livestock and Dairy Development Departments would organize small livestock farmers in the form of Milk Producers Groups (MPG) Community Organizations (CO) / Dairy Cooperatives in their ongoing and new development projects related to dairy development. Regular short term courses for small livestock farmers will be organized at district level to educate and train the small livestock farmers in feeding and management practices, disease control measures and economical milk production practices. Mobile teams of Trainers / Experts will be constituted by the Provincial Departments in this regard. The ECC considered the Mashal LNG Project in the light of Quantitative Risk Assessments Study and approved issuance of Stand By Letter of Credit (SBLC) for $ 300 million instead of the Sovereign Guarantee earlier approved by the ECC. While considering USC’s request to purchase sugar through Banks and keep its cash liquidity intact, the ECC decided that as a One Window Operation, only TCP would purchase sugar for supply to the USC.
PR
No. 336 President Asif Ali Zardari has said that Pakistan appreciates US understanding of Pak requirements and concerns during recently held strategic dialogue between the two countries. He said that the excellent relationship at the government level needs to be translated at people-to-people level for not only maximum utilization of the relationship but also to bridge the trust deficit at the grass root level. This he said during his meeting with a US delegation at Aiwan-e-Sadr this afternoon. The US delegation headed by Senator Jack Reed included Senator Ted Kaufman, Senator Kay Hagan, Congressmen David Price, Stephen Lynch and Jeff Fortenberry besides senior officials of the State Department. Ms. Anne W. Patterson, US Ambassador, was also present during the meeting. Makhdoom Shah Mehmood Qureshi, Minister for Foreign affairs, Dr. Abdul Hafeez Sheikh, Finance Advisor, Senator Syeda Sughra Imam and other senior officials were also present in the meeting. The President said that the present US commitment towards Pakistan’s stability, security and prosperity has boosted the mutual relationship and hoped that the present level of engagement would be sustained on long term basis. President Zardari said that convergence of interests of both the countries calls for adoption of a common strategy to direct our efforts for the pursuits of common goals. He said that Pakistan looks towards US for its legitimate requirements in economic as well as security fields. Referring to increased US assistance for Pakistan in shape of Enhanced Cooperation with Pakistan Act, the President said Pakistan needed massive international economic assistance to help stabilize its economy. The President emphasized the need to expedite ROZ legislation in order to give local people hope for the better through creation of job and other economic opportunities. US delegation appreciated the Government’s struggle against militancy and the public support for the Government in this regard. SH/wh
PR
No. 337 Taking notice of a news published in the press, the Prime Minister has directed to provide a financial grant of Rs. 100,000/- to Mr. Abrar Ahmed Ghazi of Gilgit-Baltistan, who has been conferred the Tamgha-i-Imtiaz on 23rd March, 2010, in recognition of his bravery in saving the life of two minor girls who fell in the Gilgit River. The Prime Minister has also directed the Pakistan Sports Board to impart him swimming training to enable him to participate in National and International competitions. Mr. Ghazi, who belongs to a poor family has come to Islamabad to receive this award by arranging expenses through his own resources. PMMO/wh
PR
No. 338 Prime Minister Syed Yusuf Raza Gilani has expressed his satisfaction on successful 4th round of Pakistan-US strategic dialogue held in Washington DC last week and its positive feedback. He hoped that this process will be carried forward with the concerted efforts of both sides and the next round of the strategic dialogue being scheduled during the forthcoming visit of Secretary of State Hilary Clinton, in Islamabad will produce more tangible concrete results. He underlined that Pakistan-US relations and ongoing cooperation should not be confined to war against terrorism and should go beyond it on sustainable long term relationship basis. The Prime Minister was talking to US Senators and House of Representatives delegations led by Senator Jack Reed and Congressman David Price who jointly called on him at the Prime Minister’s House. The Prime Minister underscored the imperative of reconstruction of areas cleared from the militants in Swat, Malakand, and South Waziristan on urgent basis, to win the heads and minds of the affected people and retain the overwhelming support of people of Pakistan in the campaign against militancy and terrorism. The Prime Minister said that the leading role of the United States in this regard will not only help further bridge the trust deficit it will also help improve the US image in Pakistan. He said that the Damage Need Assessment of those areas has already been undertaken and specific projects for rebuilding the schools, hospitals, and infrastructure have been identified and offered to the donor countries to register their help in the reconstruction phase. The Prime Minister emphasized that Pakistan wanted trade and not aid and the US Congress had an important role to play for providing greater market access of Pakistani products in their country through grant of GSP facilities, starting negotiations on bilateral trade agreement and the passage of long delayed ROZ legislation. US Senators and Congressmen were unanimous in their praise of Pakistan’s resolute and determined action to root out militancy and menace of terrorism and acknowledged the great human sacrifices as well as the massive economic cost that Pakistan had incurred in this struggle. They agreed with the Prime Minister for the need to further expand the scope of Parliamentary exchanges and people to people contacts to remove the misgiving and misperceptions on both sides. They apprised the Prime Minister of a series of planed visits of US delegations to Pakistan during this year with the view to create positive people messaging and improve the credibility of Pakistan-US relationship through seminars, symposiums, and conferences. They also assured the Prime Minister of their complete cooperation in promoting the bilateral ties in every field. PMMO/wh
PR
No. 339 On the directive of the Prime Minister, the Cabinet Division has established Benazir Bhutto Chair in the Lahore College for Women University, Lahore, and funds of Rs 2.796 million have been released to the University. Prime Minister Syed Yusuf Raza Gilani while addressing the 6th Convocation of Lahore College for Women University on January 24, 2009 had announced the establishment of Benazir Bhutto Chair in the Lahore College for Women University, Lahore for “Peace, Reconciliation and Development”. PMMO/wh
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