FARUKH SHEHZAD

ISLAMABAD, SEPT 30: With a summary for increase in price of natural gas by up to 35 per cent on the table, the Cabinet Committee on Energy (CCoE) on Friday approved a flat tariff of Rs12.96 per unit for electricity consumers across the country on additional consumption for four winter months in an effort to promote use of electrical appliances for heating room and water.

The CCoE meeting presided over by Planning Minister Asad Umar “approved the summary submitted by Power Division on the winter incentive package on incremental consumption for all domestic, commercial and general services consumers of XW-DISCOs and K-Electric from 1st November 2021 till 28th February 2022”, said an official statement.

In its summary, the power division reminded the CCoE that it had on September 13 approved in principle the winter incentive package on incremental consumption for all domestic, commercial, and general services consumers of XW-DISCOs… with the directive to “come back with a new summary with uniform application of package to the KE consumers as well”.

The CCoE had expressed the desire that instead of Rs12.66 per unit proposed by the power division for residential consumers, “the concessionary rate be fixed at Rs12.96 per unit”.

In its revised summary, the division said the application of winter package at concessionary rate of Rs12.96 per unit for all consumers on additional consumption was subsidy neutral for Discos and involved a subsidy requirement of Rs1.3 billion for the KE consumers.

Accordingly, the incentive package now approved would be applicable to all domestic, commercial, and general services consumers of Discos and KE for the period from Nov 1, 2021 to Feb 28, 2022.

(The rate charged for peak hours at the moment is about Rs20 per unit. The introduction of a concessionary rate is aimed at promoting the use of electricity for heating purposes, thereby inducing a reduction in the demand for gas.)

The reference period for incremental consumption will be November 2020 to February 2021. Under the initiative a rate of Rs12.96 per unit would be charged to domestic consumers (non-ToU or non-time of use) on the incremental consumption, above monthly use of 300 units or above the reference consumption in the corresponding months of the reference period, whichever is greater.

The same rate of Rs12.96 per kWh shall be charged to commercial consumers (non-ToU) and General Services consumers on the incremental consumption above the consumption in the corresponding months of the reference period.

For TOU (time of use) residential and commercial consumers, the rate of Rs12.96/kWh shall be charged on the respective peak/off-peak incremental consumption, above the reference peak/off-peak consumption in the corresponding months of the reference period.

New and existing consumers having no reference consumption available in the period from November 2020 to February 2021 shall be offered the same rate of Rs12.96 through benchmark consumption methodology.

No quarterly adjustments would be applicable on incremental consumption but only positive fuel price adjustments shall be passed on to the consumers availing the incremental consumption package.

Sources said that on the directives of the CCoE, the petroleum division had come up with an inverse tariff for domestic consumers, which envisaged no change in gas rates for the first two slabs, involving Rs121 and Rs300 per unit (million British Thermal Unit), to protect 78pc of the consumers.

However, it envisaged 25pc to 35pc increase in rates for all other consumers.

The planning division said the CCoE considered revision of gas tariff slabs for the domestic consumers during the winter season. It agreed that gas was a precious energy resource and that import of LNG was a large drain on the country’s foreign exchange.

“It is now critically important to realise both on the individual and national levels that energy resources need to be conserved by switching to energy-efficient appliances,” the committee said.

It added that a committee led by Science and Technology Minister Shibli Faraz and comprising secretaries of petroleum and power and member for energy planning should suggest within 30 days measures to ensure use of efficient appliances through various fiscal and administrative incentives along with regulatory actions to be taken to promote these appliances to rationalise the consumption, reduce consumer’s monthly expenses and resultantly reduce the country’s energy import bill.

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COURTESY DAWN NEWS

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Rivian is making headlines with its electric truck, but it all started with a sports car concept that might see the light of day in the future.

WASHINGTON, SEPT 30: EV startup Rivian plans to launch six new vehicles by 2025, and if my experience at the wheel of the 2022 Rivian R1T electric truck tells me anything, it's that we should be excited for every last one of them. Doubly so if one of them will be a sports car, which statements from Rivian executives suggest may not be completely out of the question.

Speaking of the previously disclosed project to Rivian's Director of Vehicle Dynamics, Max Koff, I asked why the sports car had originally been canceled. Koff corrected me and used the word "shelved," suggesting that while at a standstill, the idea isn't completely scrapped.

I then asked Rivian's founder and CEO RJ Scaringe to elaborate, and while he was clear that it simply didn't align with Rivian's ambitions to impact the auto industry, he also said the company "shelved" the project.

"I started the company in 2009, the initial product was essentially like a sports coupe, a little sports car. We worked on that for a couple of years," Scaringe told me at the R1T's media drive.

"Getting much more sophisticated in how we think about brand, and how we think about how the product, and the strategy, and the technology, and how they all fit together, and then the desire to have impact, to change the way people think about vehicles and change the way people think about sustainability, we just came to the conclusion that that wasn't the right platform to build from.

"So we shelved it, like, end of '11, beginning of '12, reset the business," Scaringe added.

Shelved doesn't mean canceled, but it doesn't mean the sports car will ever come, least of all soon. Sports cars are, after all, a tiny market compared to trucks and SUVs, which recent Rivian trademark applications suggest may remain its focus for a while.

Filings for R3, R4, and R5 model names, suffixed with both T for truck and S for SUV, were filed internationally over the summer, suggesting smaller electric trucks and SUVs will follow in the R1T's and R1S's footsteps. In contrast with some earlier EV startups, however, which talk big and miss deadlines, Rivian won't reveal what's to come until it's good and ready.

"In much the same way as we've done with these [R1] vehicles, we're gonna be really quiet about what's coming next, really, largely because we wanna make sure what we show is exactly what customers get," Scaringe continued. "There is a lot of products in the portfolio that are coming, but we haven't yet announced them."

While the Rivian sports car is far from a certainty, the thought of its holistic approach to vehicle design—on display in the R1T—being applied to a coupe kindles the imagination. 

Would it still be a hardtop hatchback like the old prototype, or possibly become a roadster? All-wheel-drive, rear-only? What of the suspension or aerodynamics? Your guess is as good as ours—let's just hope we don't have to rely on our imaginations forever.

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COURTESY thedrive

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KARACHI, SEPT 30: The donor funded TVET Sector Support Programme implemented by National Vocational and Technical Training Commission and Deutsche Gesellschaft für Internationale Zusammenarbeit (GIZ) organized the Hunar Rozgar Mela 2021 in Karachi aimed at showcasing the skill set of Pakistani youth in key economic sectors and providing a platform to the TVET graduates for job seeking. 

Through this Mela, the TVET Sector Support Programme, which is funded by the European Union, Norwegian and German Governments successfully showcased the skills of training institutes in Sindh that are implementing competency-based training in industry priority economic sectors. These institutes have received assistance from the TVET Sector Support Programme.

The ceremony is graced by Provincial Minister of Sindh for Information, Labour and Human resource Mr. Saeed Ghani along with Advisor to Chief Minister on Finance Mr. Ali Shah.

As-many-as 2,500 graduates of TVET Sector Support Programme from 20 different institutes visited recruitment kiosks of 54 national and multinational enterprises for exploring employment opportunity against 1,000 jobs while testing their interview skills in front of more than 100 recruiters in various leading economic sectors of Pakistan.

Speaking at the occasion of closing ceremony of Hunar Rozgar Mela 2021, Mr. Saeed Ghani, Provincial Minister of Sindh for Information, Labour and Human Resource said, “The Hunar Rozgar Mela 2021 is a great initiative and served as a platform to connect hundreds of young jobseekers trained in vocational and technical trades with recruiters and HR professionals from leading enterprises”.

He mentioned that the role of programmes like TVET SSP is highly crucial in the socio-economic uplift of the society specially youth.

Consul General of Germany in Karachi, Mr. Holger Ziegeler, said that, “the German Federal Ministry for Economic Cooperation and Development (BMZ) along with its development partners EU and Norway are supporting the reforms in technical education in Pakistan since long. Our efforts are to have as-good vocational and technical training system here as it is in Germany.

Today while seeing all these graduates having choice of the employment search as per the same demand-driven aspects of industry is the real showcasing of what we had aimed for.”

First Secretary, Team Leader Governance & Education, European Union Delegation in Pakistan Mr. Sven RUESCH while speaking at the occasion said that the European Union is happy to see the results of TVET Sector Support Programme specially in the area of industry-linkages. “We are supporting the TVET sector reforms in Pakistan since 2011 and are happy to witness the results of our support now.

We also hope that the sustainability of this whole initiative remains clearly evident through the GoP’s supported programmes as it is now, Mr. RUESCH said.

This Hunar Rozgar Mela 2021, was conducted to meet employment objectives for over 1,000 openings of private industry, CBT trainees and graduates had their skills shown, notably in key economic areas, and held on-the-spot interviews by the recruitment enterprises of private sector.

Moreover, a panel discussion on the topic ‘Employment for Economic Sustainability and the Role of the Private Sector in TVET’ was conducted. All the panellists put forward their expert opinions on the training and human resource development aspects. The panel discussion ended with closing remarks by the ambassadors and the chief guest. 

The Hunar Rozgar Mela 2021 was concluded with the insights from the leading representatives of TVET academia and industry like Head of HR, KIA Lucky Motors, Mr. Ashaar Saeed; Director General Sindh, National Vocational and Technical Training Commission, Ms. Nabila Umar, Chairman, Sindh Technical Education, and Vocational Training Authority, Mr. Saleem Raza Jalbani, Dr. Fatima Khushnud Head of Policy, Research and New Business, Engro Energy Limited and Mr. Olaf Handloegten, Cluster Coordinator, Training and Sustainable Growth for Decent Jobs, GIZ-Pakistan.

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Westhampnett, SEPT 29: Rolls-Royce on Wednesday announced its first fully electric car, the “Spectre”, will be available in late 2023, the luxury BMW group brand adding that all its vehicles will be electric by 2030.

“This is not a prototype. It’s the real thing, it will be tested in plain sight and our clients will take first deliveries of the car in the fourth quarter of 2023,” said CEO Torsten Mueller-Otvoes.

“I am proud to announce that Rolls-Royce is to begin the on-road testing programme for an extraordinary new product that will elevate the global all-electric car revolution and create the first — and finest — super-luxury product of its type,” he added.

Mueller-Otvoes noted that Charles Rolls (co-founder with Henry Royce) had “truly prophesied an electrified future for automobiles. In April 1900 he experienced an early electric motor car named the Columbia and declared its electric drive to be ideal”.

With the increasing switch over to electric, “now is the time to change the course of the future of luxury,” he added, with Rolls Royce seeing electric propulsion as perfectly adapted to the brand’s ambitions.

The group had already presented two electric-powered prototype models.

In a video Rolls showed off the Spectre coupe, complete with the marque’s trademark “Spirit of Ecstasy” bonnet sculpture. The Spectre is based on the aluminium chassis of its 2017 Phantom limousine launched in 2017.

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COURTESY Anews

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TOKYO, SEPT 29: Japan’s former Foreign Minister Fumio Kishida has been elected new leader of Japan’s ruling Liberal Democratic Party (LDP) on Wednesday, local media reported.

He will succeed outgoing Prime Minister Yoshihide Suga.

Kishida defeated Vaccination Minister Taro Kono in a runoff, according to Kyodo news agency.

The former foreign minister got 257 votes, while Kono received only 170.

Under pressure for a weaker anti-coronavirus policy, Suga earlier this month announced he will step down as premier and will not run for party leadership.

Kishida is set to be elected prime minister during a special parliament session to be held on Monday.

The LDP saw a four-way leadership contest which included two female candidates-including Sanae Takaichi, a former communications minister; and Seiko Noda, the LDP executive acting secretary general.

They lost in the first round and party leadership elections went for runoff between Kishida and Kono.

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COURTESY Anews

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ISLAMABAD, SEPT 29: The Government of Japan has conferred the 2021 Spring Imperial Decoration, “The Order of the Rising Sun, Gold Rays with Rosette” upon Feroz Alam Shah, Honorary Technical Advisor, Federal Board of Investment (BoI) and Director of National Engineering Corporation (NEC), in recognition of his dedicated contributions to promoting economic relations and mutual understanding between Japan and Pakistan.

MATSUDA Kuninori, the Ambassador of Japan to Pakistan, on behalf of the Government of Japan on September 29 conferred the imperial decoration “The Order of the Rising Sun, Gold Rays with Rosette” upon Feroz Alam Shah. The conferral ceremony was held at his official residence with limited participants, while taking infection prevention measures against COVID-19.

Feroz Alam Shah has worked as Honorary Technical Advisor at the Federal Board of Investment (BoI) since 2010, supporting business ties between Japan and Pakistan, whilst simultaneously working as a director in the private sector. In terms of facilitation of new entrants to the Special Economic Zone (SEZ) in Pakistan, he dedicated to assisting entry of business in the Pakistani market.

He additionally dealt with the complicated application process, cooperating with the Pakistani Government. Likewise, after formal introduction into the market, he contributed to working for the coordination of amendments to the SEZ Act to be more coherence with actual business activities.

Apart from his work furthering bilateral business ties, he has established “Pak-Japan Friendship Society (PJFS)” in 2000 in Balochistan with his brother, and been fulfilling a major role as the president from 2018.

He has also contributed to establish “Pak-Japan Culture Centre in Quetta” which promote cultural exchange through introducing Japanese Movies, Japanese Marshal arts “Karate” and Flower arrangement etc. His activities is not just focusing on not only strengthening Economic ties but also cultural understanding between two countries.

Ambassador MATSUDA, while speaking on the occasion, congratulated Mr. Shah on receiving this prestigious imperial decoration by the Government of Japan and hoped to develop closer cooperative ties between two countries along with Mr. Shah.

The Ambassador expressed his sincere hope that this contribution will further promote and strengthen economic relations and mutual understanding between Japan and Pakistan as well as people-to-people contacts between the two friendly nations. 

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Dr. Mehmood Ul Hassan Khan

IT seems that the “abrupt” fall of Kabul has “flustered” the regional as well as international power politics due to which there are some symbolic re-arrangements of security meetings, pacts and alliances now going around the world.

Chess-board of “power politics” is going to have new set-up to “topple” and “contain” Chinese socio-economic commitments towards greater regional connectivity, socio-economic integration and eradication of poverty through its “One Belt One Road Initiative” (BRI) and China-Pakistan Economic Corridor (CPEC).

Thus self-defined “China Threat Theory (CTT)” of the West & US is being intentionally disseminated its own military race in the region.

The ongoing QUAD (United States, India, Japan and Australia) Security dialogue in Washington and newly formed security pact AUKUS (Australia, UK & USA) are the prime examples of their undue and unjust military race and enmity against China in the region.

Despite Western propaganda the CPEC has been termed as the economic “jugular vein” of Pakistan. Moreover, CPEC is “oxygen” to the ailing economy of Pakistan.

CPEC is an open and transparent mega project of socio-economic prosperity and a giant step towards economic self-reliance. Thus it should be used in the best interest of Pakistan.

There are some “misleading” media news, commentaries, articles and interviews about utility, capacity and efficacy of CPEC. It seems that ongoing internal propagation against CPEC in the mass media of the country is not based on true facts.

Rather it tried to malign China not to start CPEC Phase-II and not obliging Pakistan to pay back its due instalments even on deferred terms.

In this connection, capacity payments of CPEC energy projects are being projected as a financial burden or inflexibility of Chinese companies towards Pakistan.

It is totally untrue, un-factual, fabricated and self-inserted conclusions of some of the media houses and newspapers in the country which needs to be ratified as soon as possible.

According to various published reports of SBP, SECP and Finance Ministry that Pakistan has received only US$42 billion investment in the first 65 years of Pakistan’s history, but under CPEC since 2015, 51 agreements/MOUs have been signed, worth 46 billion which has now been further increased to US$ 62 billion.

But unfortunately, to “capacity building” flaws & fallacies only 25 billion has yet been utilized.

In this regard, China does not have any restriction to invest in Pakistan, and it can be substantial if Pakistan can streamline and enhance its capacity.

The CPEC provides a wide range of opportunities to Pakistan but strong political will for good governance and diplomacy should be the way forward. Appropriate security has been one of the serious concerns of the Chinese government.

Fall of Kabul and Chinese strategic understanding towards Taliban has once again put its projects and workers in the line of fire in the country which must be protected on an urgent basis.

Anti-CPEC lobbies and secret agencies are specifically targeting the CPEC project to sabotage the project.

In this context, the newly formed AUKUS military alliance may harm the future utility of Gwadar seaport and the blue economy of China too. CPEC has the potential and threshold to connect with Central Asia and beyond.

The vast region bordering China, Afghanistan, Iran and Russia is landlocked and dependent on the seaports of Pakistan, China, Russia, Iran and Turkey. Thus the ideal combination of BRI & CPEC is the need of the hour.

Most recently, the 10th Joint Cooperation Committee (JCC) meeting of CPEC was held via video link.

While addressing it, Deputy Head of China’s National Development and Reform Commission, Ning Jizhe termed the CPEC as the flagship project under the BRI which has provided dividends over the past eight years, bringing a direct investment of US$ 25.4 billion to Pakistan and creating numerous jobs in Pakistan.

He urged both countries to focus on CPEC construction through the construction of Gwadar Port, energy and infrastructure, and industrial cooperation while fully tapping the existing infrastructure.

On the eve of 70th anniversary of Pak-China diplomatic relations, he chalked out comprehensive road-map for further development and was of the opinion that both countries should promote the healthy, qualitative development of CPEC by forming the Health Corridor (HC), the Industrial Corridor (IC), Knowledge Corridor (KC) the Trade Corridor (TC) the Digital Corridor (DC) and the Green Corridor (GC) and work together to build an even closer China-Pakistan community with a shared future in the new era.

Addressing a news conference after the JCC meeting, Minister for Planning, Development and Special Initiatives Asad Umar said that China expressed concern over the security arrangements for Chinese working on the CPEC projects.

The Minister said that China emphasised boosting security arrangements with the enhancement in the scope of CPEC in the second phase.

He defused the domestic and international propaganda by saying that despite numerous challenges CPEC projects are sailing smoothly and meeting deadlines. He confirmed the expansion of CPEC which has attracted more and more investment beyond industrial estates.

The MoU was between China’s Ningbo Port and Pakistan’s Gwadar Port for the CPEC. Another MoU has been signed for the Karachi Coastal Development Plan under the Maritime Ministry along with a Chinese Company, named CRPC, for the development of the Karachi Port facility. The Minister said that eight different agreements were signed for the agriculture sector.

During the meeting both sides signed five documents for cooperation and announced three cooperation agreements between enterprises. However, both sides exchanged views on security measures for Chinese projects and nationals in Pakistan.

The 10th JCC meeting was held on the work studies of various working groups including security, energy, industrial cooperation, agriculture, science and technology.

The meeting also announced the establishment of a joint working group in the information technology industry.

About 200 representatives from the governments, financial institutions, enterprises and public institutions of both sides attended the meeting. Being a prominent regional expert of China, CPEC & BRI, this scribe suggests that innovative commercial diplomacy is the need of the hour to resolve any emerging financial deadlock/burden between the two sides.

Request for deferment of payments, restructuring of loans through future profit sharing, change of management, issuance of IPOs, export of surplus energy and last but not the least, good governance should be followed and implemented. Any sponsored media campaign in the country should not be encouraged.

CPEC has been in the line of fire since its inception from hostile regional countries and international power brokers.

90 percent of Chinese trade with the West and US is being carried out through waters and most recently-held QUAD security meeting and formation of AUKUS have definitely anti-China aims.

Thus CPEC Phase-II is the need of the hour in which more long-term projects for the expansion and development of Gwadar seaport may be mutually beneficial for the two countries.

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Munaza Kazmi

Hey reader! Your all must have heard about the tales of Princess and Prince living in the far away magical lands in their hilltop beautiful palaces from your ever-loving grandma, and obviously you have yearned for seeing it yourself, however with the time those all felt just as fables.

What if I may say those were not mere imaginations but a Reality!

Come with me to live a real episode of your childhood fairy tales.

In the northern territory of Gilgit Baltistan icy peaks stretch above the Hunza River. Situated on the riverbank and surrounded by glaciers and gorges, the town of Hunza traditionally served as a resting place for travelers descending the Hindu Kush mountains into the Valley of Kashmir. Hunza is home to snow leopards, markhors, ibexes, and red-striped foxes.

Valley’s natural splendor and position on the Central Asian Silk Route has attracted travelers, merchants, and mountaineers for centuries. Beyond its iconic glaciers, fertile apricot farms, and turquoise lakes, the region is also rich in cultural heritage.

The splendidly appointed executive room features a king size bed, premium bedding, sizeable work desk, large windows offering gorgeous garden views, and a spacious balcony with seating. It has a roomy attached bathroom featuring a bathtub, and a walk-in closet.

AMEEN HOUSE STANDARD ROOM

Featuring double or twin beds, pleasant lobby and sitting rooms with natural light and mesmerizing garden views. The common areas feature heritage artefacts from the family of Mir Jamal Khan, the last ruling Mir of Hunza. Very important thing, all rooms are non-smoking, never forget this, otherwise you would be hearing alarms next second. 

With the feel of comfort and luxury there are spacious attached bathrooms with hot water, heating and cooling facilities, work desks, wooden floors, complimentary WiFi and flat-screen HDTV with cable and satellite programming.

The Luxury Huts you would find on the edge of the Royal Garden, that offers absolutely unique experience, stunning views of the valley amidst the comforting sounds of the gushing Hunza river below.

Each hut features luxury beds and bedding, heating and cooling facilities, minibar, free wireless Internet, flat-screen HDTV with cable and satellite programming and an attached luxury bathroom with running hot water.

Serena Altit Fort residence features 16 beautifully appointed rooms including 1 Executive room, 4 Standard Rooms and 11 Luxury Huts. However, all rooms and huts are equipped with modern amenities designed to provide the maximum comfort and luxury, ensuring a serene experience for you every time.

Moreover, in the hotel you can haveanamazing view of the snow-capped Lady Finger, Ultar, Rakaposhi and Diran peaks, that can be seen from your chamber’s balcony as well. 

Still, however, I would be suggesting you not to miss a walk past the 25-acre wide Khabasi Garden and clear water pool, the garden is abundant in sweet apricots, pinkish peaches, red and crunchy apples, also sometimes where you would be finding white chubby sheep, however no need to run before.

I believe by having the booty from the Garden you won’t be feeling ravenous, but the only smell of the tasty food near the lovely KhaBasi café is enough to make you driven towards. Where you end up eating a lot of yummy local and continental cuisine. With delicious food the charming KhaBasialso offers panoramic view.

The café is run by local women, in the way having a contribution in the wellbeing of the society, however Serena works on the principle of hiring the workforce from the local community, hence it not even highlighting the top destinations of Pakistan but giving employment to the once neglected regions.

Altit Fort has been home to a flourishing women social enterprise named CIQAM; means ‘greenery’ in Brushaski and stands for growth and prosperity, since 2003 ever since restoration work began on the Altit Fort. The enterprise was created as a project developed under Aga Khan Cultural Services Pakistan, and co- funded by the Norwegian Embassy Trust for Culture and the World Bank. 

Through this enterprise, skilled-based trainings of local women in carpentry, construction, masonry, topographic, along architectural surveys, hospitality, historical restoration and documentation have been imparted. 

Serena Altit Fort Residence features furnishings like beds, cupboards and side tables constructed by the women of the CIQAM enterprise. At the same time there is a focus on eco-friendly and sustainable practices and environmentally conscious use of natural resources.

In the end, take a stroll along the winding pathways of the AltitKhun village is worth a lot since you would be experiencing a glimpse into the original way of life of the Hunzakuts.

The Serena Altit Fort Residence is your gateway to experience the heartwarming uniqueness of the Hunza Valley and an episode of your fairytale. 

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Munaza Kazmi holds MPhil in Management Sciences (Bahria University Islamabad, 2020). She’s a travel writer, an author, & co-author of scientific contributions in national & international publications. Her main areas of research include tourism & quality management.

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Ali Sajjad

‘A great storyteller once said that great stories occur to those who can tell them. A great story, not told well, will be an ordinary or bad story’

If you are reading this piece, it establishes the fact that newspaper is a must part of your every day and you have grown up reading a newspaper almost every day in your life.

Despite your newspaper reading habit, it is not necessary for you to know that September 25 is the National Newspaper Readership Day. 

Despite being a lifelong newspaper reader and the part of a media house, I was also unaware of the day and only came to know about it when the Pakistan Post issued a commemorative stamp to mark the day.

A press release issued by the Pakistan Post says it issued the stamp on the request of the All Pakistan Newspapers Society (APNS), which has been celebrating Sept 25 as the ‘National Newspaper Readership Day’ since 2019.

Well, I have never been a stamp collector, but I will buy a few stamps from a nearby post office. My gratitude to the Pakistan Post for reminding us of the National Newspaper Readership Day, and to the APNS for coming up with the idea for the day. 

The day may provoke us to think that the newspaper is an important part of our mornings, office tables, and leisure times.

Over the years, the mode of newspaper reading might have changed. Many feel convenient to read the newspaper of their choice on a gadget while a good part of the generation of our times is still addicted to the feel of a newspaper, which comes with shuffling the pages.

There are days when one feels fatigued or lacks interest in reading the paper. That happens and that is not an unusual feel. Though one reason behind the lack of disinterest in newspaper reading may be a burdened stomach, and pre-occupied mind, there might be some faults with the news pages. I hardly finish the paper when there is no news on news pages.

No news in the news pages? Though there is the plenty of information coming out of news agencies, TV channels, reporters’ sources, corporate bodies, politicians, government agencies, and so on, sometime it happens that there is no news of one’s personal interest in the news crowd.

How to generate interest in the news stories? We often discuss in the newsroom on keeping the news stories interesting without forging facts and distorting information.

The handy tools to keep the stories interesting are in ‘story telling’. A great storyteller once said that great stories occur to those who can tell them. A great story, not told well, will be an ordinary or bad story.

We remember our childhood when our moms and grandmothers told us stories, which kept us in a trance for days and weeks. This is the time to make newspaper content more interesting and stories full of storytelling elements. That will bring back the readers to newspaper pages.

With time, the readers will feel that the quality time they spent reading a newspaper added value to their personality. The content should not update them on contemporary issues, events and discoveries, but also triggers critical thinking in them.

I would be grateful to the readers of the Minute Mirror if they provide us with their feedback and reflections on what is being published and what should be published.

We would love to hear your advice on editorial content and would like to publish your opinion in newspaper’s editorials.

We would also like you to write about the issues you see around and share story ideas. Own the Minute Mirror as it is a newspaper for the public; let you, please, make a newspaper by the public.

Ali Sajjad is the editor-in-chief of Minute Mirror. He can be reached

at chiefeditor@minutemirror.com.pk

Cape Town, SEPT 28: As China celebrated its 72nd anniversary of the founding of the People’s Republic of China on Tuesday, ambassador Chen Xiaodong highlighted its 23 years of diplomatic ties with South Africa.

During a virtual press briefing, Chen said that over the past year since the outbreak of the Covid-19 pandemic, China has become an anchor and a driving force for global economic recovery and that its economy expanded 12.7% year-on-year in the first half of this year.

While highlighting its success in technology and space explorations, Chen added that China will continue to assist South Africa and developing countries in the fight against Covid-19.

“China will strive to provide a total of two billion doses of vaccines to the world by the end of this year,” said Chen.

“In addition to donating US$100 million to Covax, China will donate 100 million doses of vaccines to other developing countries before the close of this year,” he said.

Chen added that China has taken a stance to pursue a greener and more balanced global development and aims to achieve carbon neutrality before 2060. In doing so, the nation has pledged to stop developing new coal-fire-powered projects abroad.

Chen applauded President Cyril Ramaphosa on the way he handled the Covid-19 outbreak by “putting life first” through the use of science and allowing a steady rollout of the vaccination.

“South Africa stood firm for justice and fairness in international affairs and promoting cooperation in Covid-19 response,” said Chen.

“The government contributed in defending the interest of the majority of developing countries which demonstrated South Africa’s sense of responsibility as a major country.”

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COURTESY African News Agency (ANA)

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ISLAMABAD, SEPT 28: Systems Limited continues to dominate Pakistan’s global technology landscape in the year 2021 as it bags its consecutive Forbes Asia’s Best Under A Billion Award.

The list highlights 200 Asia-Pacific public companies under $1 billion in revenue, with consistent top and bottom-line growth parameters. This is the second time in a row Systems Limited has been included in the esteemed list.

The achievement is of utmost importance for the company as it stamps authority over its consistent composite scores that showcase their overall track record that includes sales and profit growth, low debt levels, and robust governance.

CEO and Managing Director of Systems Limited Mr. Asif Peer was elated on this momentous occasion, he stated, “Systems Limited has been able to deploy an inclusive ecosystem that is able to maintain tremendous performance parameters.

It’s a great honor and a privilege to lead this organization to its second consecutive inclusion in Forbes Asia’s Best Under A Billion”.

Mr. Peer further added, “The fact that Systems Limited was included the second time on the list speaks volumes of our approach towards customer centricity, employee ownership, inclusivity, and persistence. I would like to congratulate the entire team including all the employees, stakeholders, partners, principals, and our shareholders who remain loyal to us.”

Expressing tremendous pride in this achievement, Asif Peer envisions heights never summoned before for Systems Limited in the future, “It’s the collective effort of employees, management, and leadership guardians, that we’re able to ace this amazing achievement.”

Systems Limited holds the distinction of being one of 2 companies and being the only technology company from Pakistan to be included in the esteemed list for two consecutive years. Systems Limited was honored for outstanding business achievement as it joins the 2021/2022 Inner Circle for Microsoft Business Applications and made it to the top 1% of global Technology Partners for Microsoft Business Applications. Furthermore, Systems Limited became Pakistan’s first technology company to cross PKR 100 billion Market Capitalisation.

The Forbes Asia Best Under A Billion Award will further assert Systems Limited as the brightest star of Pakistan’s IT industry. Systems Limited’s dominance also got acknowledged by the Government of Pakistan, as it won the President IT Award.

Forbes Asia’s Best Under A Billion applies a mix of quantitative and qualitative criteria for screening, such as excluding companies with serious governance issues, questionable accounting, environmental concerns, management issues or legal troubles. State-owned and subsidiary companies were also excluded.

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