FARUKH SHEHZAD

RAWALPINDI, NOV 18 - A three-day business conference on CPEC Central Asia organized by Rawalpindi Chamber of Commerce and Industry (RCCI) in Gwadar ends on a high note. The moot was organized to explore trade and investment opportunities in Gwadar and to cement trade ties and linkages with Central Asian countries. Governor Punjab Ch Muhammad Sarwar who was the chief guest on the occasion, in his address assured full support to the business community and lauded RCCI’e efforts in promoting trade activities in the region and provide platforms to explore new destinations for possible investment and trade ties with central Asian countries. China Pakistan Economic Corridor (CPEC) is undoubtedly a game changer project.

The benefits of CPEC are not limited to any city or province, but its dividends are for the whole region, he added. With the completion of this project, Balochistan will become a hub of economic and trade activities and thus the dream of becoming a new Pakistan very soon will be realized, he said.

Earlier, RCCI President in his address said that the Rawalpindi Chamber understands that China Pakistan Economic Corridor (CPEC) is a game changer for the entire region, especially for Pakistan, and will pave the way for enhancing linkages with Central Asian countries.

During the three-day conference representatives from Gwadar Development Authority, Gwadar Port Authority made presentations on key topics and also on-the-spot visits of ongoing development projects. He said that the chamber has always taken the lead in many matters. We want the business community to play its full role. Ambassador of Tajikistan, Uzbekistan, Kyrgyzstan and Kazakhstan also attended the moot.

Senior Vice President Osman Ashraf, Vice President Shahraiz A Malik, former President Zahid Latif Khan, Chairman Gwadar Conference Muhammad Badar Haroon, members of the executive committee and members of the chamber were also present on the occasion.

-------------------------------

PESHAWAR: Area Study Center (Russia, China & Central Asia), University of Peshawar & Center for Global & Strategic Studies (CGSS), Islamabad jointly organized a Roundtable Discussion on, “Uzbekistan-Pakistan Joint Collaboration for Peace & Stability in Afghanistan” at Peshawar.

The roundtable discussion commenced with the welcome address by Prof. Dr. Shabbir Ahmed, Director, Area Study Center (Russia, China & Central Asia), University of Peshawar. He stated that as immediate neighbors, Pakistan and Uzbekistan are peace holders for Afghanistan and a peaceful Afghanistan is prerequisite for regional stability.

The Chief Guest for the occasion was Lt Colonel Saadullah Tashmatov, Charge d’ affaires, Embassy of the Republic of Uzbekistan, Pakistan. He highlighted that Uzbekistan and Pakistan can play a major role for building peace and stability in Afghanistan.

 He stated that we have to work on it to diversify economic relations to achieve peace and harmony in the region. He also discussed about the Railway project of Uzbekistan that will connect the three countries which is another big step to enhance connectivity among them. He also emphasized on SCO platform which is important in this regard. Moreover, he appreciated Pakistan rice production which is very famous in Uzbekistan and has huge demand. He also said that trade between Uzbekistan and Pakistan should need to be expanded in all sphere, we have huge potential of trade and also have deep cultural ties which is very essential for both countries for further enhancement. He is also told about the translated book, “Zahir-ud-din Babar” and expressed that such initiatives of collaborations and activities must expand further and implemented to the next level.

Ms. Minahil Shawal Afridi, Research Executive, CGSS presented an overview of CGSS cooperation and collaboration with various Think Tanks in Uzbekistan. She highlighted Pakistan Uzbekistan relations, joint collaborations and future prospect between both countries. She discussed institutional cooperation and how it has remained fruitful in enhancing bilateral ties between Uzbekistan and Pakistan.

Lt. Col Khalid Taimur Akram, Executive Director, CGSS stated that many initiatives have been put forward and implemented by Uzbek President Shavkat Mirziyoyev for enhancing the stability and prosperity of Uzbekistan’s neighboring countries on important bilateral and regional forums during the recent years. Uzbekistan and Afghanistan are immediate neighbors with a common border and have affected each other’s internal development on many occasions in the past. By keeping this regional proximity of both countries in mind, Uzbek President Shavkat Mirzayeyov has devised an excellent far reaching proposal for not only developing and reconstructing the Afghan economy, but to provide the Afghan administration with much needed socio-economic support from important regional countries in Asia as well.

Dr. Minhas Majeed Khan, Head of International Relations Department, University of Peshawar stated that CPEC is one of the easiest way to bring peace in Afghanistan. Pakistan and Uzbekistan are working for a workable solution to win the hearts and mind of the people of Afghanistan through soft diplomacy. The platforms like SCO and ECO must be utilized in this regard,

Other panelists highlighted the importance of promoting regional integration and explained about geographically and culturally close ties between Pakistan and Uzbekistan. They stressed on the need of strategic and economic partnership for enhanced growth through integration and connectivity. The panelists stated that the exports between Afghanistan and Pakistan have been declined in past years, similarly Afghanistan and Uzbekistan also faced enormous declined in exports. We need to further expand the trade volume between Pakistan and Uzbekistan through collaborations, partnership and joint projects as both countries have great economic potential. The panelists emphasized that Pakistan and Uzbekistan can play a major role in facilitating negotiation between Taliban’s and Afghan Government.

Other panelists of the Discussion included:

• Dr. Ahmad Farhan Saeed, Area Study Center (Russia, China & Central Asia), University of Peshawar
• Dr. Muhammad Ali, Area Study Center (Russia, China & Central Asia), University of Peshawar

ISLAMABAD, NOV 18 - The Vice Chancellors of all universities across the country have reiterated their commitment to ensure adherence to the SOPs and government guidelines in view of the situation evolving out of the COVID-19 resurgence in the country.

The 34th Vice Chancellors Committee meeting held online on Wednesday was attended by a large number of Vice Chancellors and Rectors.

The university heads reviewed the situation on campuses with regard to the COVID-19, especially in the perspective of the feared second wave of the pandemic.

They said that the universities have taken a number of steps to cope with the situation, including strict enforcement of SOPs on campuses, reducing the numbers of students in classrooms and hostels, and shift to hybrid modes of instruction.

“In fact, while the adherence to SOPs has dropped significantly in most other public places, universities have tried hard to maintain their level of vigilance and provide good examples for others,” said the Vice Chancellors.

They expressed their total commitment to adhering to the guidelines issued by the NCOC (National Command and Operation Centre) and the health authorities. Majority of the Vice Chancellors said that they can switch to online or hybrid instruction, and limiting those who are allowed to enter the campus, in case the re-emergence of the virus requires curtailment of public interaction.

The meeting also discussed other options for action, including enhancing counselling services for students as well as the general public, sharing of information and technical resources, and mutual learning from best practices. They also demanded that PTA (Pakistan Telecommunication Authority) arrange better data packages for students and faculty members in order to facilitate online interaction and instruction.

During the meeting, Chairman HEC Tariq Banuri apprised the university heads of the decisions made in the last NCOC meeting.

He emphasized, “We need to do the best we can to deter any disruption in the education system being caused by the situation evolving due to the COVID-19 recurrence.” He stressed that the universities need to prepare and look ahead as to how they can deal better any evolving situation. 

==============

What are your thoughts on this? Please share with us in the comment section below.

BEIJING, Nov 18  – Pakistani students attended the World Intelligent Connected Vehicles Conference (WICV) and the China International New Energy and Intelligent Connected Vehicles Exhibition (IEEVChina) that were held here, Gwadar Pro reported on Wednesday.

Pakistani students of North China Electric Power University (NECPU) visited the exhibition and learnt about advanced techniques such as automatic driving technique and 5G.

Muhammad Nasir, one of the Pakistani students, believed that 5G and intelligent connected vehicles are able to change Pakistan, even the world. He said, “Baidu Autmatic Self Drive Car is totally according to new energy intelligent connected vehicles.

Baidu company said that this car will soon be on the roads in China. I think these advanced techniques will make our life easy and save time.”

Students summarized that new energy vehicles and intelligent connected automobile industry are still in its infancy in Pakistan.

“However, our nation badly needs to thrive in this industry, both in terms of sustainability and traffic problems. In this field, the cooperation between Pakistan and China enjoys a rosy prospect under CPEC frame.”

China has been leading the world in this field, and will further boost the development of intelligent connected automobile industry in the future.

“China will take intelligent connected vehicles as an important strategic direction for the transformation and upgrading of the automobile industry.

Deepening international communication and cooperation is one of the most necessary respects we need,” Xiao Yaqing, the Minister of Ministry of Industry and Information Technology of China, said at the opening ceremony of WICV.

-----------------------

What are your thoughts on this? Please share with us in the comment section below.

ISLAMABAD : Prime Minister Imran Khan will travel to Kabul on Thursday at the invitation of Afghan President Ashraf Ghani, confirmed Pakistan’s envoy to Afghanistan Mansoor Ahmed Khan.

“Prime Minister Imran Khan visiting Kabul tomorrow for meeting Afghan President Ashraf Ghani to discuss strengthening of bilateral ties⁦,” said Ambassador Mansoor.

Last week, Afghan Foreign Affairs Ministry Spokesperson Gran Hewad had announced that the PM Imran’s visit will focus on the Afghan peace process and strengthening political, security, trade and economic ties will be discussed during this trip.

“The trip happens after President Ghani’s telephonic conversation with Imran Khan last month,”.

This will be PM Imran’s first visit to the war-torn country since assuming office in 2018.

The visit comes as the stalemate continues in the Afghan peace talks being held in Doha between the Afghan government and Taliban to end the more than decade long conflict in the country.

PM Imran has maintained that there is no military solution to the Afghan conflict. He has also backed the peace process and a political solution in the country brought about by the people of Afghanistan.

The PM has stated multiple times that the peace in Afghanistan would be beneficial for the entire region as it would create new opportunities for trade and economic cooperation as well as regional connectivity.

The visit also comes day after PM’s Adviser on Commerce and Investment Abdul Razzak Dawood returns from a three-day trip to Afghanistan.

Dawood had held meetings with Afghan President Ashraf Ghani, and other leaders of the country.

------------------------------

COURTESY ISLAMABAD POST

-------------

Dr M Ali Hamza

It is not only Shanghai Cooperation Organization (SCO) where the Prime Minister Pakistan applauded the unmatchable progress of China in recent history. And there is indeed no exaggeration.  China earned and well deserves the appreciation.

We must not forget another close neighbor who once had crumbled political system, constitutional crises, hyperinflation, monetary overhang, increasing rate of poverty, short of revenue and printed money to finance its debt, almost collapsed economy, bankruptcy of much industry, and a deep credit crunch caused shut down of many industries and brought about a protracted depression. Yes the post-Soviet Russia. In December 1991 after the breakup of USSR, Russia had to deal with multiple challenges. It was the challenge of transition that required political reform, economic restructuring and the redrawing of political boundaries.Once the super-power, sank into deep economic depression by the mid-1990s due to poorreform efforts. And financial crash of 1998 was never less than a last nail in the coffin. 

The economic crises wereas harsh as of immediate economic consequence of World War I, the fall of Tsarism, and the Russian Civil War. A report by World Bank revealed that population living in poverty raised to 49% in 1993 from 1.5% in the late Soviet era.Due to economic downfall post-Soviet era experienced an immediate depletion in public health, decline in birth-rates due to economic disorder, life expectancy of men and women dropped from 64 years to 57 years and from 74 to 71 respectively. A sharp increase of unnatural deaths: suicides, accidents, and murders, was witnessed among youth. The skyrocketing price hike of medicine was one of the major causes of exponential increase in deaths. Besides, in the struggle to transform from a state controlled to a market-oriented system, large collective and state farms that were provided with state-guaranteed marketing and supply channelshad to contend with the sudden loss of state support. 

Resultantly in less than 10 years, livestock accountsdropped by half, feed grains demand declined, and the area planted to grains dropped by 25%.The reduction in purchasing power affectedthe purchases of mineral fertilizer and other agricultural inputs and crop yields went down. New machinery got expensive and sources of capital investments shrink. Overall the agriculture sector of Russia suffered the worst of the odds. Moreover, converting the world’s largest state-controlled economy into a market-oriented economy was an uphill task. Regardless of the brilliance of policy makers, such conversionwas extraordinarily difficult. Being a crisis-wracked country Russia had to ground her policies in the neoliberal Washington Consensus of the International Monetary Fund (IMF), World Bank and Treasury Department.There were three main policies opted: liberalization, stabilization, and privatization. 

Yes it was shock therapy and the outcome was in shape of self-centered greedyRussian oligarchs. These were the businessmen who rapidly accumulated wealth under the shadow of privatization policy of newly emerged state of Russia.  The dwindling Soviet state offered state owned assets those had to be sold out to private parties and thus the business magnates pulled out most of the assets and started controlling the rest of the system. The shift from USSR to Russia was only beneficial for the business oligarchs, they tried to hijack, and they did to good extent, but then Putin factor came in. That is quite another topic.

Beside these glimpses of the Russian crises, within 20 years Russia has well-functioning presidential democracy, international prestige has been re-gained, real GDP grew on average 6.7% a year, average income increased 11% annually, and a consistently positive balance of the federal budget enabled the government to cut 70% of the external debt. Today Russia is the 5thlargest national economy in Europe, the 11thlargest in the world in terms of nominal GDP, and the 6thlargest by purchasing power parity.Moreover life expectancy increased, mortality dropped, health care services covered.  A US-CIA estimate 99.7% literacy rate in Russia and according to a 2016 OECD report, 54% of Russia’s adults have attained a tertiary education making Russia the second-highest attainment of tertiary education among 35 OECD member-countries.

In 2016 the US company Bloomberg rated Russia’s higher education as the third-best in the world. The Guardian reports Russia as the 6th most-popular destination for international students in 2014.In 2016 Russia exceeded Soviet grain production levels, and in that year became the world’s largest exporter of wheat.In 2018 Russia was among top ten producers of wheat, barley, sugar beet, potato, oats, maize, lentils, pumpkin, cabbage, pea, onion, apple, flax, rye etc. In the last years Russia has emerged as a big agricultural power again.

Pakistan seems to resemble Russia in many aspects. There was Stalinization resulted in rapid industrialization and other developments. We had Ayubization that caused industrialization, construction of dams, power stations, and other developments. Russia lost her land with the collapse of USSR, and we lost our land with fall of Dhaka. Russia converted from one party system to presidential democracy, and we are struggling for the true democracy. Russia came out of the worst economic crises, and we are trying to win-over the economic challenges. Russia had to crush the business and political oligarchy, and we are yet hijacked by oligarchy. Such similarities provide us the ground to benchmark Russia for socio-economic development as we benchmark China. Present Govt. seems keen to comprehend the method in which China progressed, but there will not be any harm to study additional case of another equally brilliantsuccess story.

-------------------------

Governments and officials are voicing hopes that Covid-19 vaccines could bring “herd immunity”, with some calculating that immunising just two-thirds of a population could halt the pandemic disease and help protect whole communities or nations.

But the concept comes with caveats and big demands of what vaccines might be capable of preventing. Some experts say such expectations are misplaced.

For a start, figuring out what’s needed to achieve herd immunity with Covid-19 vaccines involves a range of factors, several of which are unknown.

What is the rate of the spread of the Covid-19-causing virus? Will the first vaccines deployed be able to stop transmission of the virus, or just stop people getting ill? How many people in a population will accept a vaccine? Will vaccines offer the same protection to everyone?

“Herd immunity is sometimes wrongly understood as individual protection,” said Josep Jansa, an expert in health emergency preparedness and response at the Stockholm-based European Centre for Disease Prevention and Control (ECDC).

“It’s inappropriate to think ‘I will not be affected myself because there is herd immunity’. Herd immunity refers to community protection, not to how an individual is protected.”

The ECDC uses an estimated herd immunity threshold of 67 per cent for its models, while Chancellor Angela Merkel said this month that Covid-19 restrictions in Germany could be lifted if 60pc to 70pc of the population acquired immunity, either via a Covid-19 vaccine or through infection.

World Health Organisation experts have also pointed to a 65-70pc vaccine coverage rate as a way to reach population immunity through vaccination.

“The idea of herd community is to protect the vulnerable,” said Eleanor Riley, a professor of immunology and infectious disease at the University of Edinburgh. “And the idea behind it is that if, say, 98pc of a population have all been vaccinated, there will be so little virus in the community that the 2pc will be protected. That’s the point of it.”

Reproduction rate is crucial

Central to the public health calculations on this concept for Covid-19 is the reproduction rate, or R value, of the virus that causes it. This is a measure of how many other people an average infected person passes a pathogen on to in “normal”, or restriction-free, circumstances.

Assuming complete vaccine efficacy, herd immunity percentage thresholds for infectious diseases are calculated by dividing 1 by the R value, deducting the result from 1, and multiplying by 100.

For instance, herd immunity from highly contagious measles, with an estimated R value of 12 or higher, will kick in only if 92pc or more within a group are immune. For a seasonal flu strain that could have an R value of 1.3, the threshold would be just 23pc.

“The problem is that for now we don’t know exactly how fast the virus spreads without any precautions and with the normal travel and social activities we had a year ago,” said Winfried Pickl, professor of immunology at the Medical University of Vienna.

With so many countries still operating in far from normal circumstances, the assumption should be that the Covid-19 R value would be “closer to 4 than to 2”, he said, since even with semi- or full lockdown measures the R value is around 1.5.

Additionally, anything less than 100pc vaccine efficacy — such as the 90pc or so suggested in early data on the Pfizer-BioNTech and Moderna Covid-19 shots — would require a matching rise in percentage of coverage to reach herd threshold.

Amesh Adalja, a scholar at the Johns Hopkins Center for Health Security, said a good target for immunity in the United States would be for more than 70pc of the population to be inoculated, but added that the figure could go up if vaccines are less effective.

Stop transmission in the ‘herd’?

Experts say another important factor is whether the Covid-19 vaccines a government chooses to deploy can stop transmission of the virus.

Evidence so far suggests the first Covid-19 vaccines to come to market will at least stop people developing the disease. But it cannot be ruled out that people will still catch the Sars-CoV-2 virus and pass it on to others unnoticed.

“While protection against illness has a value for an individual, it will not prevent circulation of virus and risk of disease in unvaccinated (people),” said Penny Ward, a visiting professor in pharmaceutical medicine at King’s College London.

Bodo Plachter, a professor and deputy director of the Institute of Virology at Germany’s Mainz University teaching hospital, said that respiratory infections in particular can be hard to block completely with vaccines — although the shots will go some way to reducing the amount of circulating virus.

“It may well be that vaccinated people will shed fewer viruses,” he said. “But it would be a mistake to assume vaccination alone can suppress a pandemic.”

Focus on protecting the vulnerable?

Edinburgh’s Riley said this suggests that for now, pursuing an idea of herd immunity through Covid-19 vaccination is fruitless.

A better approach, she said, could be to “turn herd immunity on its head”, and use the first limited supplies of vaccines to protect those most in need, without worrying about the more robust members of the “herd” who can live relatively happily with the virus.

“Let’s forget about protecting the masses to protect the vulnerable,” she said. “Let’s directly protect the vulnerable.”

-----------------------------------------

What are your thoughts on this? Please share with us in the comment section below.

COURTESY DAWN NEWS

----------------------

Gilgit-Baltistan is a region of natural beauty, rich in resources and spread over a vast area. This area covers 28,174 square miles or 72,971 square kilometers. Due to its mostly mountainous terrain, the population is only 1.8 million. The Gilgit-Baltistan Assembly has 24 seats, on which party-based elections are held. Earlier, two elections were won by PPP and PML-N respectively, this is the third general election, this time in the Gilgit-Baltistan Legislative Assembly elections, the credibility of all the political parties was at stake. The PTI took the field and kept alive the tradition that in Azad Jammu and Kashmir and Gilgit-Baltistan, the same party that is ruling in the federation wins. Although the large gatherings of PPP Chairman Bilawal Bhutto Zardari and PML-N Vice President Maryam Nawaz had given hope to both the parties. However, only one visit of Prime Minister Imran Khan worked and PTI took the lead. The PPP and PML-N have traditionally accused the government of gross rigging, while PTI leaders say it is in fact a public rejection of the PML-N and PDM statements.

There is no doubt that the victory of PTI is an expression of confidence of the people of Gilgit-Baltistan in the leadership of Prime Minister Imran Khan, but the accusations and protests of the opposition parties cannot be ignored, because election rigging is a new thing in our country nor is it a new thing to make allegations of rigging after the elections. The losers have always made similar allegations against their opponents, but it is a very dangerous trend to steal votes and change the election results at will. Therefore, in view of the sensitivity of Gilgit-Baltistan, a transparent investigation should be carried out instead of keeping silent by declaring the allegations of the opposition as mere political rhetoric, so that everything becomes clear. Otherwise, the enemy of the country is already waiting for the opportunity, if the noise of protests and rigging increases, the enemy can take advantage.

It is clear that Gilgit-Baltistan is a sensitive area and the decision to integrate it into Pakistan is being taken in view of the security interests of the country. Due to the geographical importance of Gilgit, this area is very important for Pakistan’s security. For the completion of the Pak-China Economic Corridor project, the peace of Gilgit and ending the political sense of deprivation of the people here is crucial. During the election campaign in GB, some trends have come to light that there is a special love for Pakistani forces in the region. The people of Gilgit-Baltistan believe that in case of any difficulty or natural calamity, only soldiers come to rescue. In the recent election campaign, PML-N leader Maryam Nawaz has been discussing Nawaz Sharif’s statement instead of the problems of the local population. This statement was considered foreign and unrealistic for the people of GB, which is why the PML-N, despite being in power in the past, has failed miserably. The PPP has historically played a key role in the reform process for the region. The local population values these services, but joining the PDM and bad governance in Sindh has played a key role in defeating the PPP.

Some things have proved to be very important in the PTI’s victory, including the alliance with dynamic and active groups at the local level. In addition, promises were made to provide new bridges, hospitals and jobs to the local population. Residents of Gilgit-Baltistan have seen the performance of both the old parties and are confident that the PTI will take the process of constitutional reform forward and make GB the fifth province of Pakistan. The traditional reason for the PTI’s victory is that Gilgit-Baltistan is usually ruled by the party that is in power at the center. Given the election results, the PTI government is certain. It is to be hoped that CPEC, along with new economic plans in GB, will make people’s lives easier, the PTI will take timely steps to give GB the status of a province in response to the long-standing demand of the local population.

After the peaceful completion of the election process in Gilgit-Baltistan, what seemed to be a flurry of activity or results, was not very local, but the arrival of the major national political parties was a must, but the GB’s peaceful and civilized political circles, regardless of party or constituency, have to keep a close eye on it. The opposition should also get out of the politics of accusations and put the interest of the country and the nation before its own political interest. Defeat is part of the election, the opposition should not pave way for unrest in the region under the guise of protests, given the seriousness of the situation, important personalities from Gilgit-Baltistan have demanded the formation of a grand Jirga, so that a middle ground can be found.The Prime Minister Imran Khan has also called on the opposition to enact legislation to make the elections transparent, so as to ensure the prevention of electoral fraud. If the opposition really wants to address electoral weaknesses beyond self-interest, they will have to support the government in passing legislation in parliament. In this way the spark of iniquity can be extinguished before it ignites or if the spark of this rigging is set on fire instead of being extinguished immediately, then the peace of the country along with Gilgit-Baltistan will be ruined.

Written by

Attiya Munawer

Twitter: @AttiyaMunawer

---------------------------------------------

England cricket team will tour Pakistan for a two-match T20I series in October next year. The development was confirmed by the Pakistan Cricket Board (PCB) in a press release issued on Wednesday.

The reigning 50-over world champions will play two T20I matches in Karachi on October 14 and 15, 2021.

PCB CEO Wasim Khan expressed delight over the development in a press release.

“I am delighted to confirm that England will be touring Pakistan to play two T20Is in October 2021,” said Wasim. This will be their first visit to Pakistan for 16 years and will open the door for both Test and white-ball tours in the 2022-23 season. The full-strength England squad will arrive at the backend of our home series against New Zealand.”

The 49-year-old further added that the PCB are expecting to host Australia in the 2021-22 season as per the FTP commitment.

“We also expect Australia to visit Pakistan for their FTP commitment in the 2021-22 season, with England returning for both Test and white-ball tours in the 2022-23 season,” he said.

ECB Chief Executive Tom Harrison was also quoted in a press release where he reiterated strong relationship between the boards.  

“It’s a real pleasure to announce that the England men’s T20I squad will be playing in Pakistan in October 2021,” he said. “This will be first time since 2005 that an England team has toured Pakistan and, as such, it represents a significant moment for both nations.

“As was demonstrated this summer, we have a strong relationship with the PCB, and the ECB is delighted to be able to play our part in ensuring the safe return of international cricket to this wonderful nation of passionate cricket fans.”

----------------------

What are your thoughts on this? Please share with us in the comment section below.

COURTESY SAMAA.TV

------------

ISLAMABAD, NOV 18 - The Global Final of the Huawei ICT Competition 2019–2020 came to a successful conclusion on November 14, at Huawei's Songshan Lake campus in Dongguan. 

Focusing on the theme of "Connection · Glory · Future", the Global Final was held online for the first time due to the ongoing COVID-19 pandemic. Following fierce competition, the final winners are as follows:

Pakistan Team 1 won the first prize in the Network Track of the practice competition, whereas Pakistan Team 2 won the third prize. Members of Team 1 were Muhammad Umar from Virtual University Lahore, Neeraj Harijan from Mehran University of Engineering and Technology, Jamshoro and Haseeb Mehdi from NUST Islamabad. Members of Team 2 consisted of Muhammad Salman from Superior University, Qazi Shameel Uddin from Mehran University of Engineering and Technology, Jamshoro and Syed Muhammad Kazmain from NUST Islamabad.

Since 2016, Huawei has annually invited students from colleges and universities in Pakistan to participate in the ICT competition to promote ICT technology certifications, transferring ICT knowledge and developing the local ICT industry ecosystem. 

12,000+ university students registered themselves for the Huawei Pakistan ICT Competition 2019-2020.Only after the rigorous process of preliminary exams, enablement trainings, certification exam and the national final exam weretop 6 studentswere selected and divided into two teams to represent Pakistan in the global final.

With two tracks, Network and Cloud, the Practice Competition primarily examined the ICT knowledge, hands-on skills, and teamwork exhibited by students. Meanwhile, the Innovation Competition evaluated students' capabilities in terms of innovation, cooperation, and development by using cutting-edge technologies such as IoT, big data, and AI. 

The competition set a new participation record, attracting almost 150,000 students from over 2,000 colleges and universities encompassing more than 82 countries and regions. A total of 109 teams (327 students) from 39 countries and regions successfully made it to the Global Final.

Mr. Ma Yue, Executive Vice President of Huawei Enterprise Business Group (EBG), Huawei EBG Global Partner Development and Sales President, delivered a video speech in which he remarked, "In the next decade, we will apply new ICT more widely and deeply. ICT is the cornerstone of the intelligent world, and talent is crucial for the digital transformation of industries and directly contributes to the development of the digital economy. 

Huawei is committed to building a healthy ICT talent ecosystem, promoting digital skills, contributing to the prosperity of the ICT industry, and ultimately enabling more people to benefit from the digital world."

Mr. Firmin Edouard Matoko, Assistant Director-General for Priority Africa and External Relations of UNESCO, also gave a video speech. He said, "The COVID-19 global pandemic has yet again highlighted the global digital divide. Huawei and UNESCO are united under the shared mission of fostering the digital skills of African youth, technology innovation and entrepreneurship. 

I am delighted to see that our private partners, like Huawei, are developing the world's digital talent ecosystem to prepare for this change, as demonstrated through this Competition. It is not only an event to showcase the outstanding potential and digital talents of the world, but also an occasion to strengthen consensus to make digital technology inclusive for all.”

Despite the ongoing global pandemic, the competition still showcased its ability to bring people together, with an even larger scale and more incredible achievements. 

Huawei hopes that future ICT Competitions can involve even more ICT schools, government agencies, industry organizations, training service partners, and businesses — to further promote learning, teaching, and development through fair competition. 

The company expects to provide one million certified ICT professionals by 2024 as part of its efforts to drive intelligent and digital transformations across industries, and to ultimately bring digital to every person, home and organization for a fully connected, intelligent world.

-------------------------------------------

What are your thoughts on this? Please share with us in the comment section below.

It was en route to New Delhi from Saudi Arabia

An Indian airliner made an emergency landing at Karachi’s Jinnah International Airport after one of its passengers fell ill, the Pakistani aviation authorities confirmed Tuesday.

Indian flight GOW-6658 was en route to New Delhi from Saudi Arabia, according to the authorities. The pilot made the emergency landing after the condition of one of the passengers, Muhammad Nushad, deteriorated.

The authorities called doctors at the airport as soon as the airliner landed but the passenger had died.

The passenger died of a cardiac arrest, according to his medical report.

--------------------