Tag: Economy news world today

September 27, 2021: Chairman, National Accountability Bureau (NAB), Justice (Retd) Javed Iqbal on Mnday said the bureau’s successful anti-corruption strategy has led to the recovery of Rs 538 billion from corrupt elements during the tenure of the incumbent management.

Chairing a meeting to review performance of NAB’s Operations and Prosecution Divisions here at NAB headquarters, he said father of the nation, Quaid-i-Azam Muhammad Ali Jinnah, in his address to the Constituent Assembly of Pakistan, had termed corruption and bribery as the biggest curses for a country.

"That really is a poison. We must put it down with an iron hand," the NAB chairman said, adding that the NAB was established to eradicate corruption in a holistic and integrated manner as NAB strongly believes in zero tolerance in eradication of corruption-100 percent development."

He said NAB was absolutely committed to rooting out corruption with an iron hand in an atmosphere of renewed energy and dynamism, where fighting against corruption was being taken as national duty.

The meeting was informed by Director General Operations that NAB had received 496,460 complaints since its inception, out of which 487,124 complaints were disposed off.

NAB has authorized 16,093 Complaint Verification (CVs), while 15,378 Complaint Verification were completed. NAB has authorized 10,241 inquiries, out of which 9,275 inquiries had been completed. NAB had authorized 4,654 investigations, out of which 4,358 investigations had been completed by NAB since its inception.

It was informed that it has recovered Rs. 819.793 billion directly and indirectly since its inception, which was a record achievement. It was further informed that NAB had filed 3,754 references in various Learned Accountability Courts, out of which 2,477 references were decided by Learned Accountability Courts.

Currently, 1,274 references having worth Rs. 1,335.019 billion were under trial at various Learned Accountability Courts.

NAB was considered a role model among SAARC countries. Due to the reason, NAB was selected as the first Chairman of SAARC anti Corruption Forum. NAB was the focal Department of Pakistan under United Nations Convention against Corruption (UNCAC).

NAB had introduced a new concept of Combine Investigation Team (CIT) to benefit from the experience and collective wisdom of senior supervisory officers to further improve the standard and quality of inquiries and investigations on the basis of solid evidence as well as statements of witnesses and documentary evidence.

Besides that it had established state of the art Forensic Science LAB with the facilities of Digital Forensics, Questioned Documents and Fingerprint analysis. These initiatives of NAB were lending quality.

NAB Headquarters and Regional Bureau’s were being evaluated on annual and midterm basis at a given criteria which had proved successful to increase NAB performance.

APP

September 27, 2021: Digital marketing holds promise for tourism promotion and that’s what exactly the present government is doing by rolling out an inclusive project -Brand Pakistan- in coming days to transform the country’s image by projecting its breath-taking tourist resorts at international level through online means.

“The competent authority has already given approval for Brand Pakistan and now our focus is on its launch which is expected in coming month,” a senior officer of Pakistan Tourism Development Corporation (PTDC) told APP on Monday.

The Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf government, soon after coming into the power, tasked the PTDC with transforming the local tourism industry by developing a brand for local tourism industry at global level.

He said the initiative, which includes Brand Pakistan, exclusive tourism portal, a ten-year road-map for tourism promotion, a five-year action plan and national minimum standards for hospitality sector, was meant to boost tourism activities in the country. All the components of project would be unveiled at its launching ceremony, he added.

Giving details of the project, he said international experts were hired to prepare the project, which was finalized after holding thorough consultation with all stakeholders.

He said the Brand Pakistan had an exclusive tourism portal, which was meant to promote the country’s tourist attractions across the world through virtual galleries, videos and documentaries.

It would provide world-class exposure to Pakistan’s tourist attractions through one click. It consisted of a user-friendly interface to interact with the prospective tourists and give them the necessary and latest information about the country’s tourist attractions, he added.

He said a ten-year road-map to invigorate tourism industry was also part of the project. The ‘National Tourism Strategy’ (NTS) 2020-2030 would ensure maximum utilization of its huge resources for sustained economic growth, poverty alleviation and reduced social inequalities.

He said the strategy was guided by a vision (2020-2030) that envisaged, a mature, sustainable and responsible tourism industry contributing significantly to the economic development of Pakistan and the quality of life of all her people, primarily through job creation, social inclusion and economic growth.The NTS would raise the industry’s competitiveness and ensure maximum utilization of Pakistan’s natural, cultural, historical and geographical assets, he added.

The officer said salient features of the strategy included sustained economic growth, employment creation, pov­erty reduction, safety and security of tourists, roads and efficient transport services, comfortable and hygienic accommodation and restaurants, value shopping, efficient telecommunication services and access to quality health services.

As a part of National Tourism strategy, he said a five-year National Tourism Strategy Action Plan (2020-2025) had also been prepared that would provide a road-map for effective implementation of the strategic efforts to boost tourism.

He said it was a welcoming development that the sector has been bounced back despite the coronavirus pandemic Pakistan. The government kept open the tourism sector during the pandemic by ensuring full implementation of the Standard Operating Procedures (SOPs) issued by the National Command and Operation Center (NCOC) for stemming the virus spread.

About the steps taken by the government to attract foreign tourists, he said the facility of e-visa was introduced for 193 countries, while 50 countries were provided visa-on-arrival service.

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APP

Sep 27, 2021: Prime Minister Imran Khan Monday performed ground-breaking of Rs 207 billion Karachi Circular Railway project, at a ceremony held here at Cantt Railway Station and termed it as a revolutionary project and a big gift to Karachiites facing serious transport problems over decades.

The ceremony was also attended by Federal Minister for Information and Broadcasting Fawad Chaudhry, Federal Minister for Planning and Development Asad Umer, Federal Minister for Railways Azam Khan Swati, Federal Minister for Information Technology Amen-ul-Haq, Federal Minister for Maritime Affairs Ali Zaidi, Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf’s members of National Assembly and MPAs from Karachi besides a large number of the party office bearers.

On this occasion, Federal Minister for Railways Azam Khan Swati said that KCR was a public-private partnership project with an estimated completion period of 18 to 24 months. It would be a state-of-the-art project having all modern facilities including fast electric trains.

By pursuing the vision of Prime Minister Imran Khan, the PTI government was writing a new history for Karachi as it was the most important city of the country. Besides KCR, there were seven other big Federal Government development projects for Karachi in the pipeline.

He recalled the grandeur of the city during the 1970s when he was studying here; also mentioned the tram-train service. Instead of further development, he regretted, over last forty years this international city had been ruined.

He said in the 1960s Pakistan Railways coaches were much better than those of Iran and Turkey.

He assured that within the next few months Pakistan Railways would be turned into a profitable state organization.

Federal Minister for Planning and Development Asad Umer said Green Line service would be formally operational in November 2021, which would be inaugurated by the Prime Minister.

He said K-4 bulk water supply project was scheduled to start supplying water to Karachi in October 2023, but he desired its completion before August 14,2023.

He informed that the work on another mega project of Freight Corridor would start soon; feasibility was ready and a proposal for it had also been received from a Chinese company.

He said though innovations Pakistan could do a lot in different sectors despite limited resources.

He said in addition to many development projects launched or to be initiated for Karachi by the federal government, the work on development projects in other 14 priority districts of Sindh province were on full swing.

APP

September 27, 2021: Federal Minister for Industries and Production Makhdum Khusro Bakhtyar Monday said the government is committed to engage the International Monitoring Fund (IMF) to broaden the economic development in the country.

He said this while talking to IMF County Representative for Pakistan Teresa Daban Sanchez who made farewell courtesy call on him. She was accompanied with Esther Perez Ruiz newly appointed IMF country representative in Pakistan, said a press release.

The minister welcomed the appointment of Ruiz in Pakistan and conveyed well wishes to outgoing resident representative Teresa Daban.

During the interaction, the sides exchanged views on economy of Pakistan in post-pandemic situation.

The minister highlighted the government's endeavors to develop a long-term sustainable and viable economic plan to address issues pertaining to the fiscal and monetary situation in Pakistan.

Teresa lauded the efforts of government of Pakistan to curb the negative impact of the pandemic through well-timed monetary and exchange rate policies.

She also commended Pakistan's response to the health and economic crisis amidst the pandemic and said the vital economic reforms needed to achieve the sustainable economic growth in Pakistan.

APP

September 27, 2021: The water level of Tarbela Dam reservoir Monday has reduced to 1515.72 feet while power production also declined to 3283 megawatts.

According to the Tarbela dam spokesperson, water inflow and power production once again started reducing and today it was 4020 megawatts where 16 power generations units out of 17 were working with full capacity and one power unit was shut down.

The water inflow in the Tarbaila Dam reservoir which remained 75000 cusec feet and outflow was 110000 cusecs.

It was also disclosed that today no water was released for Pehur High-Level Canal (PHLC) to supply water for some areas of KPK for irrigation.

APP