FARUKH SHEHZAD

ISLAMABAD, MAY 5: Shindo Yusuke,  Chargé d’ Affaires A.I, Embassy of Japan in Pakistan, has expressed profound grief and sorrow over the sad demise of Admiral (Retired) Karamat Rehman Niazi, former Chief of the Naval Staff .

In his message of condolences, Shindo on Wednesday conveyed his deepest sympathies to the bereaved family of the ex-Naval chief and prayed for the eternal peace of the departed soul and grant courage to the family to bear this irreparable loss with fortitude.

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OSLO, MAY 5: The pharmaceutical giant Pfizer expects to sell COVID-19 vaccines for USD 26 billion this year, a sharp upward adjustment from previous forecasts of USD 15 billion.

The new forecast, which corresponds to sales of around NOK 216 billion, is based on vaccine delivery agreements with authorities around the world, the American company wrote in its quarterly report presented on Tuesday.

The company aims to deliver 1.6 billion doses of the corona vaccine, which has been developed in collaboration with German company BioNTech. The two companies share the costs and revenues associated with the vaccine equally.

“Extremely proud”

“I am extremely proud of how we have started 2021, with strong financial results in the first quarter… Operating revenues increased by 8%, in line with the goal of 6% annual growth until 2025,” CEO Albert Bourla said.

“In addition, we have reached clinical, regulatory, and commercial milestones throughout our portfolio, while at the same time increasing the supply of the much-needed corona vaccine.”

Pfizer had revenues of USD 14.6 billion in the first three months of the year, up from USD 10.1 billion in the same period last year – a growth of 42%.

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COURTESY norwaytoday

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ISLAMABAD, MAY 5: The signing ceremony of Technical Cooperation Projects, between Korea Program on International Agriculture (KOPIA), Rural Development Administration (RDA) Republic of Korea and Pakistan Agricultural Research Council (PARC) was held today at NARC Islamabad. 

The Ambassador Seo Sang pyo, Dr. Cho Gyoung-rae, Director KOPIA-Pakistan Centre, Mr. Ghufran Memon, Secretary MNFS&R, Dr. Azeem Khan, Chairman PARC, focal person for the KOPIA project from Pakistan, Engr. Shamim ul Sibtain DG NARC, Dr. Ghulam Muhammad Ali Member Plant Sciences PARC, Member Co-ordination and Monitoring Dr. Shahid Hameed and other high officials also attended the Event today.

Chairman PARC, Dr Azeem on his Welcoming Remarks has briefly described the undertaking of the Memorandum of Understanding between South Korea and Pakistan Starting from 22nd March 2018 to the signing on 6th August 2020 by the Ambassador of Pakistan at RDA Headquarters Korea. The explanation for the agreed upon TCPs was given:

1.            Self Sufficiency of virus free Potato seed Multiplication by Aeroponics technique

2.            Establishment of production technology of Major Fodder Crops in Pakistan

3.            Chili production and Post-harvest Management technology Development in Pakistan

PARC Chairman appreciated the engineers from South Korea who came to Pakistan for the Post haste Installation of the Aeroponic Greenhouse for Virus free Potato Seed Multiplication at NARC.

The Chairman also gave remarks for the progress at AZRC – Umerkot regarding the screen house for the nursery raising of Chilies under Protected conditions , five local varieties were raised and transferred to a demonstration plot of five acres, Two Dehydration plants and one washing unit has also been Received at NARC Islamabad for the Installation at AZRC Umerkot , they will be used for red chili drying to make them Aflatoxin free , a main hindrance for the chili export , and a great alternative for protected and fast drying.

Dr Azeem also appreciated the Introduction of five Rye grass varieties at NARC for their Adaptability trials in climatic conditions of Pakistan One Variety has shown exemplary resilience for Growth in Pakistani Environment and a great alternative to existing livestock feed even in winters.

His Excellency the Ambassador of Republic of Korea, Seo Sang Pyo, appreciated the efforts of bilateral cooperation between KOPIA and PARC and expressed his views that the Signing of TCPs is the first of many more to come in Agricultural Technologies.

He appreciated the diversity of Agricultural production in Pakistan especially Mangoes and Basmati Rice and that the transfer of technologies would further enhance the quality of Pakistani Agricultural Products enabling greater export as well as better food security. He anticipated that the Agricultural Technology Co-operation will be another successful story of Korea and Pakistan’s Relations

Mr Ghuffran Memon Secretary of National Food Security & Research has also put forward the remarks that Pakistan is fortunate to have received technology that has already been tried and tested and has shown great results in South Korea. This Transfer of technology will enable Pakistan to further Enhance Productivity and food Security.

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ISLAMABAD, MAY 4: The National Command and Operation Centre (NCOC) on Tuesday decided to form monitoring teams at federal, provincial, and district levels to ensure the implementation of coronavirus SOPs from May 8-16.

The NCOC, in a statement, said the development came during a meeting chaired by Federal Minister for Planning, Development and Special Initiatives Asad Umar and co-chaired by National Coordinator Lieutenant General Hamood Uz Zaman Khan. Special Assistant to the Prime Minister on Health Dr Faisal Sultan was also present at the meeting.

During this period, all businesses and shops will remain closed with few exceptions like food outlets, grocery stores, pharmacies, petrol pumps and bakeries etc., the forum said, adding it was informed that there would be a complete ban on tourism for both locals and outsiders.

"All tourist resorts, formal and informal picnic spots, public parks, shopping malls; all hotels and restaurants in/around tourist/ picnic spots to remain closed," it said.

"Travel nodes leading to tourist spots [will also remain] closed; focus on [the areas of] Murree, Galiyat, Swat-Kalam, Sea View/beaches and the Northern Areas [will remain]," stated the statement.

Meanwhile, Umar has noted a significant improvement in the implementation of coronavirus SOP compliance since the stronger enforcement measures including military deployment took place across the country.

In a tweet, the minister pointed out that national average compliance has doubled from 34% on April 25 to 68% on May 3.

"Significant improvement seen in SOP compliance since the stronger enforcement measures including military deployment took place. National average compliance has doubled from 34% on April 25 to 68% on May 3," Umar wrote on Twitter.

The minister also stressed the need to sustain and build on this compliance level especially till Eid.

Pakistan reported 3,377 new coronavirus infections, taking the total caseload to 834,146 countrywide, according to the data provided by NCOC on Tuesday.

The country last reported 3,953 new coronavirus infections on April 5.

At least 161 new deaths have taken the country's death toll to 18,310. Most deaths in the country were reported in Punjab followed by Sindh and Khyber Pakhtunkhwa.

The positivity rate of coronavirus cases stands at 8.9%.

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COURTESY suchtv.pk

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BAKU - On April 15, 2021, two students of Baku Higher Oil School (BHOS) got married in the Baku “ASAN service” center No.5.

Elvin Ismailov, a graduate of the BHOS Petroleum Engineering Department, married a third-year student of the same department MasumeRizji, who is originally from Pakistan.

Rector of Baku Higher Oil School ElmarGasimov and Ambassador Extraordinary and Plenipotentiary of Pakistan to Azerbaijan Bilal Hayee acted as witnesses at the wedding ceremony of the citizens of the two friendly countries.

The rector and the ambassador congratulated the young people and wished them a happy family life based on warm and strong relations, similar to those that exist between the two countries.

The newlyweds were presented with gifts.

Although the wedding ceremony was held in accordance with the traditions of both countries, a small number of close relatives of the couple attended it, according to the quarantine rules.

Elvin Ismailov and MasumeRizji lived in the BHOS Student House during their study at the university. During the same period, they met and fell in love.

On ElmarGasimov’s instructions, all necessary conditions have been created for young people at the BHOS Student House so that they could continue living there.

Elvin Ismailov says that the support provided to our country by Pakistan during the war was an example for them. It was these fraternal ties between the two countries that encouraged them to quickly formalize the marriage relationship.

Note that before the wedding ceremony, the families of the young people met each other via the Internet and blessed them.

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Munaza Kazmi

Worldwide, millions of people have been killed, disabled, displaced, widowed and orphaned as a result of acts of violent extremism. In the majority of cases, the statistics are available because it is a tangible, visible damage that can be measured. However, the discourse regarding around the extremism and violence that has inflicted on communities, societies and countries is still limited. States have introduced strategies and policies to prevent and counter violent extremism, but there is no strategy or policy developed till yet to address the long-lasting impact of extremism on individuals, families and communities.

Extremism today has become an outlook not only in the countries which have been directly affected by violent extremism but in countries that have not experienced it directly. In my opinion, extremism is an attitude and it becomes part of one’s belief system when it is not checked, condemned and disapproved by family, the larger community and the state itself.

Hence, this tendency permeates into institutions, organizations, families and the wider community and has devastating impact on the social harmony and unity.

However, the greatest impact of such a societal attitude is the transformation of a tolerant, accommodative and pluralistic society into an intolerant and exclusionist one. The intolerance of ordinary citizens matters because it impacts the socio-political sphere of the society.  Due to prevalent religious, ethnic and sectarian intolerance, people have less heterogeneous peer groups, they are more critical of others’ behavior and faith, and they do not feel free to express themselves because of the fear of negative consequences. 

This mass religious, ethnic, sectarian and political intolerance has resulted in a culture of conformity that constrains individual rights and liberty in many important ways. At the same time, cultural intolerance has divided once united communities on the narrow lines of sectarianism, religion, ethnicity and language. 

Moreover, the economic impact of extremism is the closure of many businesses in the affected areas. This results in a further increase in poverty, unemployment and various types of crimes. Extremism also has a devastating impact on women’s mobility, social protection and services. Many women are left as heads of households and a significant number as widows.

Thedisease of Extremism and Radicalism is more fatal than any other, since it not just infilters the heart but the soul. Nevertheless, itis changing the fabric of society, as one could seehow less tolerant, aggressive we became and without love and harmony for others.

However, some of the recommendations for policymakers in this context should be that, states honor their obligations under international human rights law to fight any discrimination and take effective measures to prevent and eliminate discrimination on the grounds of religion or belief in all fields of civil, economic, political, social and cultural life. Legislation protecting the rights of all religious communities should be adopted and implemented with the full commitment of police, judiciary and other actors.

In the face of the bleak global landscape of growing persecution and restrictions on religious freedom, it is imperative to hold interfaith dialogue and forge alliances within and between religious groups that can become a formidable force in coping with existing persecution and preventing it in the future.

Moreover, countriescan also work to institutionalize inclusive peace education as a long-term remedy and integrate diversity into education, so that our young generation consider the religious, ethnic, and cultural diversity of their societies an important part of their national heritage. More broadly, there is need for a greater understanding of the invisible and unrecognized impact of extremism on individuals and communities.

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Munaza Kazmi has recently done Master of Philosophy from Bahria University Islamabad. Her debut novel is Unrequited Love.

She’s an author, columnist writing in different newspapers and a researcher having seven publications till yet, she’s been writing since 2016.

You can connect to Kazmi at twitter @munaza_kazmi or on research gate as munaza kazmi.

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ISLAMABAD, MAY 4: President Arif Alvi has called for promoting Knowledge-Economy and digitalization of Government organizations to enhance the efficiency of work and service delivery. He said that Pakistan was blessed with immense talent and resources and the government was making serious efforts to channelize this potential in the right direction. The President stated this while talking to a delegation of Huawei, led by the Vice President of Huawei Middle East Region, Mr.Spacelee, who called on him, at Aiwan-e-Sadr.

The meeting was attended by Secretary M/o Science and Technology, Dr Arshad Mahmood, Secretary M/o Federal Education and Professional Training, Mrs Farah Hamid, Additional Secretary M/o IT&T, Mr Ali Sher Mehsud, Huawei Pakistan CEO Mr.Mark Meng, other senior officials of the Government while the Chairman PM’s Task Force on Science and Technology Dr Atta-ur-Rehman attended the meeting via video link.

Mr.Spacelee gave a presentation about the role of his organization in the promotion of IT Skills in Pakistan. He informed that Huawei had contributed to Pakistan’s economy by providing 10,000 jobs and paying $120 Million in taxes to the Government from 2018 to 2020, besides spending $6 Million to support disaster-relief efforts of the government. He highlighted that his organization had contributed to Pakistan’s Information and Communication Technology (ICT) talent by providing 10,000 certifications till 2020.  Mr.Spacelee informed that the M/o IT&T in collaboration with Huawei would train over 1,000 Government employees to achieve Digital Pakistan initiative. He apprised the meeting that government officials would be registered and enrolled for training programs which would be conducted through Huawei Experts.

Huawei Pakistan CEO Mr.Mark Meng added that Huawei will collaborate with the public and private sectors in Pakistan to create an ICT ecosystem that drives digital transformation forward. Huawei will continue to support the government’s Digital Pakistan vision with the latest technologies, unlocking new avenues of growth and innovation.

President Arif Alvi appreciated the initiative of Huawei to provide training and ICT skills to the people of Pakistan. He asked the M/o IT&T to develop an action plan and set timelines for launching training programs for the government employees to train them in fields like Artificial Intelligence, Cloud Technology, Big Data, Blockchain, Neural Networks and Communication Technologies. He urged the M/o IT&T to come up with more innovative ideas and enhance collaboration with Huawei for early realization of Digital Pakistan Initiative.

After the meeting, Mr.Spacelee presented one award to the President for his efforts made towards the development of the ICT Sector in Pakistan.

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Extreme Commerce to Collaborate with Mishal/World Economic Forum (WEF) to Improve Competitiveness Data on Digital Skills and Jobs of Tomorrow in Pakistan. As the Number One Freelancing Nation in the World, Pakistan Needs to Improve Its Global Ranking of 73 Amongst 141 Countries on Digital Skills for Active Population.

ISLAMABAD - Pakistan has shown resilience in its struggle against COVID-19. Giving preferences to the challenges and institutionalizing efforts to fight COVID-19 greatly enhances Pakistan’s chances to improve its ranking on the Global Competitiveness Index 2021. Pakistan ranks at 110 among 141 countries on the rankings measured in 2019. The 2020 was a pause year for the Global Competitiveness Index of the World Economic Forum due to lack of global data because of the global pandemic of COVID-19.

Pakistan has shown resilience in its institutions working together, before the COVID-19 crisis, a long-standing issue had been the ongoing and consistent erosion of institutions, as shown by declining or stalling checks and balances and transparency indicators. Against this backdrop, in the revival phase the government is expected to prioritize in improving long-term thinking capacity within the federal and the provincial governments and enhance mechanisms to deliver public services through greater digitalization.

One of the challenges for the government remains regaining public trust. With limited availability of the COVID-19 vaccination, the social distancing and work from home policy seems to be enforced for many more months to come. Ultimate gain of trust can be ensured by safeguarding livelihoods that can generate income even in the times of hardships and difficulties.

The digital skills both at the centre and provinces have been a key factor to create opportunities to keep the economy rolling. Mandated by the National Command and Operation Center (NCOC), businesses must enforce work from home policy with a maximum 50% attendance for businesses and officials at all levels. This is part of the new ecosystem that is emerging globally, where businesses prefer to look at certain digital skills as the most desired prerequisite for work. The government of Pakistan has estimated digital skills, globally referred to as online outsourcing, is expected to generate gross service revenue between $15 billion and $25 billion in 2021.

Amir Jahangir, Chief Executive Officer of Mishal Pakistan, a Country Partner Institute of the New Economy and Societies Platform, World Economic said, “Governments needs to devise systems to use digital technologies for the welfare of the people. The tax regimes on technologies that help fight COVID-19 should be given breaks to create more value for the citizens,”. He further said, “the economic well-being of the society improves by giving preferential preferences to the tools and technologies that enable people to work from home, sustain health and be connected. This includes the hardware, software and the medium of internet that is required to carry out the business.”

Sunny Ali, Founder of Extreme Commerce, said "we are enabling our platform for the people to benefit from the platform. The 100+ Digital Skills are open to public, so they can learn and start accommodating themselves in the new digital environment. He said, “we are especially encouraging the students and youth in universitas and across Pakistan to benefit from Extreme Commerce’s Video Boot Camp, so they can build their digital skills for the Fourth Industrial Revolution (4IR) economy and the possible post Covid-19 scenarios.

Before the COVID-19 crisis, despite the significant expansions of ICT access, ICT availability and use remained far from universal. The COVID-19 crisis has accelerated digitalization in advanced economies and made catching up more difficult for countries or regions that were lagging before the crisis.

For several years before the crisis, skills mismatches, talent shortages and increasing misalignment between incentives and rewards for workers had been flagged as problematic for advancing productivity, prosperity, and inclusion. Because of the pandemic and subsequent acceleration of technology adoption, these challenges have become even more pronounced and compounded further by permanent and temporary losses of employment and income.

To catchup with the global skills development, Pakistan needs to focus in the revival phase on gradually transitioning from furlough schemes to new labour market opportunities, scaling up reskilling and upskilling programmes and rethinking active labour market policies. The country’s leadership needs to work to update education curricula and expand investment in the skills needed for jobs in “markets of tomorrow”, especially the digital skills, enabling opportunities of work from home.

Pakistan has vaccinated more than 1 million elderly people in the last two months. The country has purchased 78% of its total available & expected COVID-19 vaccine stock till June 2021. Future orders are already in place to keep the vaccination process smooth. Almost 18.7 million doses will be administered by June 2021.

The Executive Opinion Survey, carried out nationally by Mishal Pakistan, helps to identify some common features that helps how Pakistan better manages the impact of the pandemic on its economy and its people. Based on the assessment of business leaders i) economic digitization and digital skills; ii) safety nets and financial soundness; iii) governance and planning; and iv) health system and research capacity have contributed to countries’ resilience to the health crisis.

Extreme Commerce has earlier signed a memorandum of understanding with Mishal Pakistan to mainstream e-commerce in Pakistan, this includes capacity building initiatives for the media and industry players, including training, seminars, and workshops. With this partnership both the organizations are also creating a media fellowship program on e-commerce and digital trade.   

Extreme Commerce is Pakistan’s first EdTech start up with a sole focus on skills development and capacity building within the E-Commerce and digital arena. Founded in 2017, it is the largest community of its kind in Pakistan, with well over half a million members and over 100+ courses and income streams to choose from. Extreme Commerce estimates that by 2025, it will foster a community of over 1 million strong, generating well over $1 billion in inward remittance for Pakistan.

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ISLAMABAD, MAY 2: Huawei announced its business results for the first quarter of 2021 today, which were in line with forecast.

In Q1, Huawei generated CNY152.2 billion in revenue, a 16.5% decrease year-on-year.

Its network business maintained steady growth, while consumer business revenue declined, in part as a result of selling the Honor smart device brand in November 2020. Huawei's net profit margin was up 3.8 percentage points[1] year-on-year at 11.1% – the result of the company's ongoing efforts to improve quality of operations and management efficiency, as well as a patent royalty income of US$600 million.

"2021 will be another challenging year for us, but it's also the year that our future development strategy will begin to take shape," said Eric Xu, Huawei's Rotating Chairman.

"We thank our customers and partners for their ongoing trust. No matter what challenges come our way, we will continue to maintain our business resilience. Not just to survive, but do so sustainably.

As always, we will remain focused on the needs of our customers and keep delivering practical business value.

Huawei is driving efforts to fully unleash the value of 5G. It is helping carriers around the world roll out their 5G networks, meeting the demands of consumers and industries alike, while boosting its own delivery efficiency.

It continues to improve its software engineering capabilities and ramp up investment in the software sector to gradually increase the proportion of software and services in its total revenue mix.

"As always, we remain committed to technological innovation and investing heavily in R&D as we work to address supply continuity challenges caused by restrictions in the market", stressed Xu.

"We will continue making breakthroughs in basic science and pushing the frontiers of technology."

[1] The financial data disclosed here are unaudited figures compiled in compliance with the International Financial Reporting Standards; exchange rate at the end of March 2021.

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ISLAMABAD, APR 28: Pakistan could face a major economic blow if peace talks between the Taliban and the Afghan government fail, an expert warned.

Speaking at a webinar by the Islamabad Institute of Conflict Resolution, an Islamabad-based think tank, late Monday, Zafar Moeen Nasir, former vice chancellor of Punjab University, said the country’s policy shift from geopolitics to geo-economics could cost Pakistan economically.

“As the withdrawal of US forces is near and clouds of civil war are looming there which is going to create tremendous security risks (for Pakistan), any civil war can be a setback for economic conditions in Pakistan,” he said.

He was referring to the post-withdrawal situation in Afghanistan if the US pulls out without a sustainable peace deal between Kabul and the insurgents.

Pakistan has been one of Afghanistan’s largest trading partners, but several internal and external factors have led to a drop in trade in recent years. Both countries share a 2,430-kilometer-long (1,510-mile) border, and border crossings are the main trading routes.

“America has also realized that Pakistan can play both, positive as well as negative role, after its forces’ withdrawal from Afghanistan. Now it depends on Pakistan’s policymakers how to tackle the Afghanistan issue as Pakistan has already shifted towards geo-economics, so Pakistan will focus more on the economic outcome rather than geo-political gains,” Nasir said.

He added that constructive role in Afghanistan by Pakistan will bring dividends for both nations.

US, CHINA TENSION

The speaker also spoke on current ongoing tension between Washington and Beijing and said Pakistan cannot take risk to take side in this “new cold war”.

“This is a complex situation for Pakistan to make choice as Pakistan was friend to America but now very close to China,” Nasir explained.

A defense analyst believed that distance between Islamabad and Washington was created by the latter’s opposition to multi-billion dollar China-Pakistan Economic Corridor (CPEC).

“The US is not our enemy, it has been a friend, but a matter of concern for us is only the US’ blatant opposition to the CPEC which must try and make them understand that it is our need,” said retired Maj. Gen. Raza Muhammad, an adviser at the National Defense University.

He added that recent deal between China and Iran will also bring positive progress in the region.

“There is a great possibility of regional connectivity, not only the regional connectivity, ultimately it is the Eurasian connectivity, and then it is going to become the Afro-Asian connectivity and global connectivity as Pakistan is already very strongly pursuing its goals and objectives and despite all opposition to the CPEC,” he argued and termed the CPEC a game-changer for the country’s future.

The $64 billion CPEC-a network of roads, railways and pipelines-aims to connect China’s strategically important northwestern Xinxiang province to the port of Gwadar in Balochistan.

The speakers including Sameera Imran, assistant professor at National Defense University; Faheem Sardar, Islamabad-based economic analyst; and Sabah Aslam, head of Islamabad Institute of Conflict Resolution, also suggested Islamabad to enhance its trade relations with Central Asian states, neighbors, and beyond.

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COURTESY anews

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ISLAMABAD, APR 28:  Acclaimed Artist and author Kiran Shah has published her inspiring book Pink Shoes and Jilbaab: Not Your Average Hijab Guide through Passionpreneur Publishing and the book would be available via major players in the global book distribution field.

Pink Shoes and Jilbaab is a witty guide for young Muslim women who might be toying with the idea of hijab. In this book, Hijab Lifestyle Advocate Kiran Shah shares valuable insights, walks the readers through her personal experiences, and shares her wisdom on how to tackle between respecting your values and living the Hijabi life with confidence.

The author, who took up Hijab at the age of 25 has had her fair share of struggles fitting in and finding her place after making this decision. Kiran Shah, who is also a Women Empowerment Coach, Emotional intelligence, NLP, and Corporate Trainer, shares how her modest attire hasn't stopped her from achieveing her dreams, in a fun and peppy way.

The book is now available to inspire readers across the globe through the IngramSpark distribution network and other affiliates which will cover print-on-demand across the UK, Europe, USA, Australia, New Zealand and the Middle East. The e-book is available in 25+ online bookstores like Amazon, Kindle, Barnes & Nobles and Apple Books in the Middle East. It is available in Liberty and Dawah Books in Pakistan.

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