RAWALPINDI, May 20 (APP): Minister for Planning, Development and Reforms Ahsan Iqbal on Friday said that due to bold and prudent policies initiated by the present government, Pakistan was now poised to become amongst eighth fastest growing economies of the world by the year 2018.
He was addressing the Seminar on “issue of Development in
Rural Areas”,organized by Arid,Agriculture University Rawalpindi here.
Ambassador of South Korea to Pakistan,Pof. Dr Song Jong Hwan, also attended the event.
ISLAMABAD, May 20 (APP): Trials to select the Rawalpindi team for the Inter-District Football Championship will be held on Sunday (May 22) at Pasban Football Ground, Rawalpindi.
According to President, District Football Association (DFA),
Shaukat Ali Khan all players from Rawalpindi District can take part in the trials.
“The Selection Committee includes Shahid Ali Khan (Chairman) and members Mushtaq Mir, Fiaz Ahmed Faizi and Chaudhry Amjad.
ISLAMABAD, May 20 (APP): The Islamabad Netball Association will be holding Netball Championship for Girls to be staged here at the Pakistan Sports Complex in September.
According to President, Pakistan Netball Federation (PNF),
Mudassar Arain the championship will be played first time in
Islamabad.
He said that PNF has planed to organize girls’ championship
for the promotion of netball games in the various cities of the country
ISLAMABAD, May 20 (APP): Chinese President Xi Jinping and
Premier Li Keqiang on Friday extended felicitations to Pakistani government and people on the 65th anniversary of the diplomatic relations between China and Pakistan, terming Pakistan a “good neighbour, close friend, trusted partner and dear brother of China”.
In their separate messages addressed to President Mamnoon Hussain and Prime Minister Muhammad Nawaz Sharif on the 65th anniversary falling on May 21, the Chinese leadership said China-Pakistan relations had stood the tests of changes of international and domestic situations and made headway constantly.
President Xi Jinping said China and Pakistan are all-weather
strategic partners and mentioned that in recent years, their ties had maintained strong momentum of development.
ISLAMABAD, May 20 (APP): Photo exhibition and storytelling
session “Discovering a lost paradise along China-Pakistan Economic Corridor, (CPEC)” was held at the Tsinghua University Beijing on Thursday, says a press release received here on Friday.
The prominent participants included Ambassador of Pakistan to China Masood Khalid, the Vice Chairperson of Tsinghua University Council Han Jingyang, Liu Binjie Director of Education, Science, Culture and Health Committee of the National People’s Congress, Chairman CITIC foundation Kong Dan, President of China Pakistan Friendship Association Sha Zukang, Senator Mushahid Hussain and Li Xiguang Director of Pakistan Culture and Communication Centre at Tsinghua.
Ambassador Masood went around the photo gallery and
appreciated the photographs displayed, that were taken by Prof. Li Xiguang, Liang Xiaoxin, and Wu Yidi during their recent visit to Pakistan.
ISLAMABAD, May 20 (APP): Prime Minister Muhammad Nawaz Sharif on Friday appointed Zubair Gul, President of Pakistan Muslim League-N, United Kingdom, as the ex-officio member of the parliamentary board of PML-N Azad Kashmir.
In a meeting held here at the Prime Minister House, he said overseas Pakistanis had always contributed for the stability of Pakistan’s economy and its development.
Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif termed expatriate Pakistanis as the country’s assets and said it was his priority to resolve different problems faced by them.
ISLAMABAD, May 20 (APP): President Mamnoon Hussain on Friday administered oath to National Party’s Mir Hasil Bizenjo and Pakistan Muslim League’s Sheikh Aftab Ahmed as federal ministers.
The oath-taking ceremony was attended by political leaders and senior officials here at the Aiwan-e-Sadr.
Sheikh Aftab Ahmed has been working as Minister of State for Parliamentary Affairs in the cabinet of Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif.
ISLAMABAD, May 20 (APP): Minister for Water and Power Khawaja Asif on Thursday said that the government is upgrading electricity transmission system across the country.
The minister, in a tweet, said new power lines and grids would help add more electricity in the system.
Meanwhile, total generation of the electricity stood at around 16,700 MW electricity while demand remained 19,000 MW, thus shortfall of electricity stood 2,300 MW.
ISLAMABAD, May 20 (APP): Patron Islamabad Chamber of
Small Traders, Shahid Rasheed Butt has expressed
confidence over growth and sustainability of economy due to
interest of the Finance Minister Ishaq Dar and his team.
“The economic managers are burning midnight oil to make
a pro-growth budget as we had enough of austerity measures which has subdued growth”, he said in a statement issued here.
Talking to a group of journalists led by President PFUJ
Afzal Butt and Shakeel Anjum President National Press Club, he said that the authorities should focus on improvement of
infrastructure and policy implementation to trigger economic
growth and job creation.
ISLAMABAD, May 20 (APP): The ongoing week-long youth drama festival would promote healthy activities among the youth and revives the concept of theater with theme of promoting peace, love and harmony.
This was stated by Director General Pakistan National Council
of the Arts (PNCA) Iftikhar Babar while talking to APP.
He said that the youth drama festival is part of PNCA’s
activities to introduce the trend of theater in the twin cities.
ISLAMABAD, May 20 (APP): Ministry of Religious Affairs and
Interfaith Harmony has directed corporate entities/public sector organisations to submit their sponsored Hajj applications by June 2.
According to a notification, corporate entities, public sector
organisations have been directed to submit lists of their sponsored labour/low paid employees, who are being sent to perform the sacred religious obligation on the reserved seats.
As per Hajj Policy, 500 seats have been reserved in Government Hajj Scheme for labour/low paid employees sponsored by public sector organisations/corporate entities.
ISLAMABAD, May 20 (APP): Senator of PML-N Dr. Ghous Muhammad Niazi has said that Pakistan-China Optical Fiber Cable (PCOF) project between the two countries would be a milestone in the telecom sector aimed at boosting communication services through this modern system.
Talking to Radio Pakistan, the senator said that the Optic fiber project would help in providing alternative telecommunication route between Pakistan and China as the China Pakistan Economic Corridor (CPEC) would transform Pakistan into one of the world’s leading economies.
“Our government is committed to end the darkness of the
country by serving the nation and would discourage agitational politics and those again want to disrupt the democratic process in the country”, he said.
ISLAMABAD, May 20 (APP): Lok Virsa in collaboration with
Chinese Embassy will organize a two-day Chinese ‘Mela’ from May 21 in Line with 65th annual celebrations of diplomatic relations between Pakistan and China.
The ‘Mela’ would highlight the Chinese Culture, cuisine and
photo exhibition along with Pakistani Artisans and music would also be arranged.
The performers would present fusion of Pakistani and Chinese culture and traditions with a focus on performing arts of both countries, an official of Lok Virsa told APP.
ISLAMABAD, MAY 20 (APP): Minister for Law & Justice Zahid Hamid said so far 9,020 persons availed the facility by filing their returns under the Voluntary Tax Compliance Scheme (VTCS), depositing Rs 850 million tax under the scheme.
Speaking in the Senate on behalf of Minister for Finance, he said at the outset, it was stated that neither any tax amnesty bill was introduced nor passed by the National Assembly.
However, he added Voluntary Tax Compliance Scheme (VTCS) was announced by the government and presented in the form of a Bill before the National Assembly.
KARACHI, May 20 (APP): Following are the selling/buying rates of major currencies issued by the National Bank of Pakistan (NBP), here on Friday.
U.S.A 105.55/
103.04
S.ARABIA 28.00/
26.34
U.K 154.04/
150.39
JAPAN 0.9582/
0.9350
EURO 118.23/
115.43
U.A.E 28.73/
26.34
ISLAMABAD, May 20 (APP): Sri Lanka’s religious and political leaders have welcomed receiving the holy relics of Lord Buddha from Pakistan’s Gandhara region.
The religious leaders performed special pooja (worship) on arrival of the most sacred relics at a ceremony held at Sri Lanka’s Bandaranayake International airport Thursday night.
Sri Lankan Minister for Public Administration and Management, Ranjith Madduma Bandara, Minister for Sustainable Development and Wildlife Gamini Jayawickrama Perera, senior monks and officers of Pakistan’s High Commission in Colombo received the holy relics amidst hordes of devotees.
ISLAMABAD, May 20 (APP): Pakistan National Council of the Arts (PNCA) will organise a two-day cultural show from May 21 in line with the 65th Pak-China Friendship anniversary.
The Council has arranged a number of colourful performances in the cultural show, an official of PNCA told APP.
The performers will present a fusion of Pakistani and Chinese culture and traditions with a focus on performing arts of both countries.
ISLAMABAD, May 20 (APP): National Institute of Folk and
Traditional Heritage (Lok Virsa) will pay tribute to revolutionary poet Habib Jalib on May 23 at Lok Virsa.
Habib Jalib was a big name in the Urdu poetry.His work
besides affecting the modern poetry of the language also had a very positive and construction impact on the poetry of other languages.
He was a progressive writer and soon started to grab the
audience with his enthusiastic recitation of poetry.
ISLAMABAD, May 20 (APP): Pakistan has submitted its formal application for the membership of Nuclear Suppliers Group (NSG).
In a letter addressed to the Chairman of NSG on May 19,
the Ambassador of Pakistan in Vienna stated that the decision to seek participation in export control regime reflects Pakistan’s strong support for international efforts to prevent the proliferation of weapons of mass destruction and their means of delivery.
“Pakistan has the expertise, manpower, infrastructure, as well as the ability to supply NSG controlled items, goods and services for a full range of nuclear applications for peaceful uses,” the letter said.
ISLAMABAD, May 20 (APP): Advisor to the Prime Minister
on Foreign Affairs Sartaj Aziz on Friday said Pakistan has a vital stake in peace and stability in Afghanistan.
“It goes without saying that without a stable
Afghanistan, the security challenges facing Pakistan cannot be effectively addressed,” he said in his inaugural address at
the 5th round of Pakistan Afghanistan Dialogue organized by
Regional Peace Institute (RPI).
Sartaj Aziz said, for Pakistan, the security situation
in Afghanistan was a matter of serious concern, adding, “We have strongly condemned recent terrorist incidents in Afghanistan, particularly the 19 April terrorist attack in Kabul.”
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