ISLAMABAD: A private airline from Tajikistan launched its flight operation to Pakistan on Thursday by transporting 14 passengers from Dushanbe to Islamabad amid efforts to enhance trade and people-to-people contacts between Pakistan and Central Asian Republics.
Pakistan’s push for enhanced regional connectivity with Central Asia aims to unlock mutual economic opportunities, particularly in energy, trade and infrastructure, by capitalizing on its strategic geographic position.
In response, Central Asian nations, recognizing the potential to access broader markets through Pakistani ports and diversify their economic partnerships, have shown a growing interest in strengthening trade and transport links with Pakistan.
According to the Associated Press of Pakistan (APP) news agency, the first flight of Tajikistan’s Somon Air received a traditional cannon salute by fire tenders from the Civil Aviation Authority.
“The flight was handled by the Shaheen Airport Services, a subsidiary of the Pakistan Air Force,” it reported. “A cake-cutting ceremony was also held on the occasion.”
APP said the Somon Air flight departed from Islamabad to Dushanbe later in the afternoon with 52 passengers on board.
“The launch of Somon Air’s flights will facilitate direct travel between Islamabad and Dushanbe, saving travel time,” it added.
The flight will operate once a week in the initial stage to facilitate people traveling between the two countries.
Pakistan’s official logistics and freight transportation organization also dispatched the first locally produced potato consignment to Tajikistan earlier this year in April, creating a major export opening for the country to the landlocked region.
Tajik airline launches flights to Pakistan amid push for trade and connectivity with Central Asia
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Tajik airline launches flights to Pakistan amid push for trade and connectivity with Central Asia
- The flight will operate once a week in the initial stage to facilitate people traveling between the two countries
- Pakistan also created an export opening to Dushanbe by exporting the first consignment of potatoes in April
Prominent Pakistani food manufacturer announces setting up UAE subsidiary
- Ismail Industries produces a diverse range of confectionery, biscuits, chips, flour
- It includes Bisconni, the biscuit company, and popular candy maker Candyland
KARACHI: Ismail Industries Limited, a prominent food manufacturer and exporter in Pakistan, announced this week it would set up a subsidiary in Abu Dhabi after seeking the necessary regulatory approvals.
Pakistani businesses and industries have been grappling for years with chronic issues like the shortage of electricity, gas and water. A deteriorating law and order situation in most parts of the country and particularly the commercial hub, Karachi, is also fueling uncertainty for businesses. Major trade bodies have also rejected the new tax heavy finance bill for the coming fiscal year amid an annual inflation projection of up to 13.5 percent for June. The budget comes into effect on Monday.
“The Board of Directors (BoD) has resolved to establish/set-up a wholly owned subsidiary of the company in Abu Dhabi, UAE,” Ismail Industries said in a notice issued to the Pakistan Stock Exchange on Friday, informing its shareholders that the subsidiary would manufacture, market, sell, and distribute all kinds of food, including biscuits and confectionery.
“The company will accordingly seek all necessary regulatory approvals and proceed with the incorporation process once the same has been obtained.”
Ismail Industries produces a diverse range of confectionery, biscuits, chips, flour, packaging and other items. It includes Bisconni, which offers an extensive range of premium biscuits and cookies, and Candyland, which was set up in 1998 and makes a wide array of candies, chocolates, jellies and bubble gums.
Ismail Industries is ISO 22000 certified, a standard developed by the International Organization for Standardization dealing with food safety. It is also certified by SANHA (South African National Halal Authority), a leading authority in the certification for Halal products around the world.
Pakistan president gives assent to tax-laden budget coming into effect tomorrow
- Bill comes ahead of more talks with IMF for fresh bailout loan
- Opposition parties, major trade bodies have rejected the budget
ISLAMABAD: Pakistani President Asif Ali Zardari has signed the Finance Bill 2024-25 into law, state-run media reported on Sunday, with the newly announced tax-laden budget to go into effect from tomorrow, Monday, the beginning of the new fiscal year.
Parliament passed the government’s finance bill on Friday amid an annual inflation projection of up to 13.5 percent for June. The bill comes ahead of more talks with the IMF for a loan of up to $8 billion to avert a debt default for Pakistan, the slowest-growing economy in South Asia.
“President Asif Ali Zardari has given assent to the Finance Bill 2024-25 under Article 75 of the Constitution for next year’s federal budget,” Radio Pakistan said on Sunday. “The Finance Bill will be applicable from July 1.”
The government presented the national budget on June 12 with a challenging tax revenue target of 13 trillion rupees ($46.66 billion) for the year starting July 1, up about 40 percent from the current year, to strengthen the case for a new rescue deal with the international money lender.
The budget is gearing the country toward “an era of sustainable and inclusive growth,” a finance ministry report issued on Friday said, projecting annual consumer price inflation for June 2024 between 12.5 percent to 13.5 percent, up from 11.8 percent in May.
The rise in the tax target is made up of a 48 percent increase in direct taxes and a 35 percent hike in indirect taxes over revised estimates of the current year. Non-tax revenue, including petroleum levies, is seen increasing by 64 percent.
The tax would increase to 18 percent on textile and leather products as well as mobile phones besides a hike in the tax on capital gains from real estate.
Workers will also get hit with more direct tax on income.
Opposition parties, mainly parliamentarians backed by the jailed former Prime Minister Imran Khan, and top trade bodies have rejected the budget, saying it will be highly inflationary and lead to industry shutdowns.
Pakistan’s central bank has also warned of possible inflationary effects from the budget, saying limited progress in structural reforms to broaden the tax base meant increased revenue must come from hiking taxes.
The upcoming year’s growth target has been set at 3.6 percent with inflation projected at 12 percent.
Pakistan has projected a sharp drop in its fiscal deficit for the new financial year to 5.9 percent of gross domestic product (GDP), from an upwardly revised estimate of 7.4 percent for the current year.
Since 2022, Islamabad has taken painful measures demanded by the IMF for the last bailout loan, which included hiking fuel and energy prices, causing prices of essential commodities to skyrocket. Inflation surged to 38 percent in May 2023 before dropping to a 30-month low of 11.8 percent in May 2024.
With inputs from Reuters
Dubai-based food company explores opportunities in Pakistani corporate farming
- Bassam Karanouh, a partner of Dubai’s Caballero Foods, visited FonGrow farm in Khanewal
- Agricultural initiatives under Special Investment Facilitation Council are being administered by FonGrow
ISLAMABAD: Bassam Karanouh, a partner of the Dubai-based Caballero Foods company, visited the FonGrow agriculture and livestock farm in Khanewal city to explore opportunities in Pakistani corporate farming and promote “sustainable supply chains in the global meat market,” Radio Pakistan reported on Sunday.
Pakistan last year set up a Special Investment Facilitation Council (SIFC) — a civil-military hybrid forum — to attract foreign funding in agriculture, mining, information technology, defense production and energy as the South Asian country deals with a balance of payments crisis and requires billions of dollars in foreign exchange to finance its trade deficit and repay its international debts in the current financial year.
Initiatives in the agriculture sector under SIFC are being administered by FonGrow, which is part of the Fauji Foundation investment group run by former Pakistani military officers.
“A partner of Dubai Based Company Caballero Foods visited the FonGrow agriculture and livestock farm in Khanewal,” Radio Pakistan reported on Sunday. “The purpose of the visit was to explore the sustainable supply chains in the global meat market as well as promote bilateral trade ties with Gulf countries.”
The visiting company official was informed about the process of In Vitro Fertilization being used by FonGrow, in which an egg was fertilized outside the uterus of female cattle in a laboratory, resulting in the creation of multiple offspring from a healthy animal’s ovum.
“I would be glad to be the ambassador for Pakistan, for all the product they have, not only the meat because, I do believe in the product that they are producing,” Kakanouh said.
In an interview to Arab News last year, the CEO of FonGrow said Pakistan was seeking up to $6 billion investment from Saudi Arabia, the UAE, Qatar and Bahrain over the next three to five years for corporate farming, with the aim of cultivating 1.5 million acres of previously unfarmed land and mechanizing existing 50 million acres of agricultural lands across the country.
“We have estimated about $5-6 billion [investment from Gulf nations] for initial three to five years,” Major General (retired) Tahir Aslam, FonGrow’s managing-director and chief executive officer, told Arab News in an interview.
He declined to share details about the breakdown of the investment from each individual country.
The CEO said the company was engaging with several Saudi companies like Al-Dahara, Saleh and Al-Khorayef to attract investment in the corporate farming sector.
Aslam said his company was also working on different investment models with the Saudi and UAE companies for corporate farming, including joint ventures.
Pakistani companies attend first-ever Al Hamba Festival to attract mango imports from Qatar
- Event kicked off on Thursday and will go on until July 6, has been organized by embassy of Pakistan in Doha
- Pakistan is world’s fourth-largest mango producer and agriculture accounts for almost a quarter of its GDP
ISLAMABAD: The ongoing first-ever Al Hamba Festival in the Qatari capital of Doha is celebrating the “richness” of Pakistani mangoes with the hope of attracting Qatari importers to place orders for mangoes and other agricultural produce from the South Asian country, state media reported on Sunday.
Pakistan is the world’s fourth-largest mango producer and agriculture accounts for almost a quarter of its GDP. But Pakistani mangoes have faced export challenges in recent years due to concerns over adverse weather and pests and fruit flies that can threaten the agricultural standards of importing countries.
To attract Qatari importers, several popular varieties of mangoes such as Sidhri, Chaunsa, Safeed Chaunsa, Anwar Ratol and Duseri have been put up on display at the Al Hamba Festival being held at Souq Waqif.
The event, which kicked off on Thursday and will go on until July 6, has been organized by the embassy of Pakistan in Doha in collaboration with the Celebrations Organizing Committee of the Private Engineering Office and features over 43 companies and 100 outlets.
“First-ever Al Hamba Festival is an opportunity to savor a variety of the finest Pakistani mangoes besides promoting cultural exchange between the two nations through the universal language of food,” the state-run APP news agency quoted Pakistan’s Ambassador to Qatar, Muhammad Aejaz, as saying.
“The Al Hamba Festival promises to be a memorable event for families and food enthusiasts, offering a rich tapestry of flavors and cultural experiences.”
The envoy expressed confidence that the event would “attract importers in Qatar to place orders not only for mangoes, but for other agricultural produce including rice, food products and other fruit.”
The festival is hosting a variety of exhibitors, including importers, retailers, and exporters showcasing processed foods and dry mangoes. Notable participants include Zuhair Impex, Akin Foods, Kashan Trader’s, Friday Fresh Pvt Ltd, Naurus Pvt Ltd, Pak Khyber Traders, Aaj Enterprises, Al Hamad Agro Chemicals and Swat International Trading Company. Major retail stores participating include Al Baladi Hypermarket, Marza Hypermarket, Sunder Mart and Al Hemaliya Trading.
In addition to mangoes, the festival also features seasonal fruits like falsa, jamun, and peaches. Various Pakistani cuisine are another highlight of the festival with many local restaurants and cafés offering a diverse menu to showcase the culinary heritage of Pakistan.
Pakistan launches polio eradication drive tomorrow targeting over 11 million children
- Campaign to target select districts of Punjab, Sindh, KP provinces
- Pakistan has reported eight new polio cases in 2024 so far
ISLAMABAD: Pakistan is set to launch a polio eradication campaign from tomorrow, Monday, in selected districts of Pakistan’s Punjab, Sindh and Khyber Pakhtunkhwa provinces to immunize more than 11 million children under the age of five, state-media said.
Polio is a highly infectious disease that invades the nervous system and can cause paralysis or even death. The virus has been eliminated in developed nations but persists in parts of India, Nigeria, Afghanistan and Pakistan. Pakistan has reported eight polio cases in 2024, six of them from the impoverished southwestern Balochistan province.
Polio vaccination efforts in Pakistan are complicated by the belief among many Pakistanis, particularly those residing in the conservative tribal areas, that the medicine is a Western campaign aimed at sterilizing the country’s population or a cover for Western spies. In 2012, the local Taliban had ordered a ban on immunization against polio in some tribal districts. At least 11 policemen have been killed this year while on security duty during vaccination campaigns that are frequently targeted by militants. Dozens of polio workers have also lost their lives over the decades.
“A varied-duration anti-polio campaign will start on Monday in selected districts of Punjab, Sindh and Khyber Pakhtunkhwa,” Radio Pakistan said.
A seven-day anti-polio drive would target more than five million children in six high-risk districts of Lahore, Bahawalnagar, Lodhran, Muzaffargarh and Gujranwala in the central-eastern Punjab province while 4.7 million children would be vaccinated in 16 districts of Karachi.
A five-day polio vaccination campaign would also begin in 11 districts of the northwestern Khyber Pakhtunkhwa province and administer polio drops to around 1.3 million children. The campaign will take place in the Swabi, Swat, Tank, North Waziristan, South Waziristan and selected union councils of D I Khan, Peshawar, Kurram, Bannu and Lakki Marwat districts.
The number of cases of polio has steadily declined since 2014 when 306 were reported in Pakistan.
Pakistan has to contend with extra suspicion of immunization drives because of the 2011 US special forces raid inside the country that killed Al-Qaeda leader Osama bin Laden, architect of the September 11 attacks on the United States in 2001. A Pakistani doctor was accused of using a fake vaccination campaign to collect DNA samples that the CIA was believed to have been using to verify bin Laden’s identity. The doctor remains jailed in Pakistan.
