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BUSINESS Wednesday, 18 September, 2013
airBlue Coo’S involvement in Pia unCalled for! JACPIAE spokesman says Abbasi was seemingly working to promote his airlines through weakness of the PIA commercial and operational setbacks Karachi: The Joint Action Committee of the PIA Employees (JACPIAE) has slammed the intervention of Shahid Khaqan Abbasi, Chief Operating Officer Airblue, in the affairs of national flag carrier with ill-convened ideas to damage a state-owned corporation which is already in severe financial crisis. The JACPIAE spokesman said Abbasi was seemingly working to promote his airlines through weakness of the PIA commercial and operational setbacks while expanding his airlines operations domestically and internationally in parallel. The involvement of Abbasi was an open conflict of interest if he was involved in consultation process for the PIA privatisation or development because his airline had direct competition with the national flag carrier. He said the PIA flights on profitable routes of Birmingham and Frankfurt had been suspended because Abbasi’s airlines had been given permission by the Civil Aviation Authority (CAA) to start its flights operations on the same routes. He added that the destruction of national flag carrier was being planned to develop private airlines as policymakers had decided to privatise the PIA on the one hand and allow private carrier to run and expand their operations as non-public without listing their companies in the stock exchanges on the other. The JACPIAE’s spokesman lambasted his to support for the business contract between the PIA and the Turkish Airlines, adding that Abbasi’s support seemed obvious for anything which was against the interest of PIA. The business plan of the PIA with the Turkish Airlines was a recipe of complete downfall of the national flag carrier though private airlines were seeking a golden opportunity to expand their businesses locally and globally in the replacement of PIA. Staff RepoRt
Effort only fully releases its reward after a person refuses to quit. — Napoleon Hill
(IF GOVT PATRONISES LIVESTOCK)
Halal meat exPort can reach $6b In next 5 years: saIfI LahOrE
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Staff RepoRt
hE Lahore Chamber of Commerce and Industry (LCCI) Convener for Standing Committee on halal Meat Export Naseeb Ahmad Saifi has said that halal meat export from Pakistan can touch $5 to $6 billion mark in next five years if the government patronises livestock farmers and devise a coordinated and comprehensive policy for promotion of this industry. Talking to media persons on Sunday, he claimed that Pakistan had made Volume of remarkable progress during the last few halal market in years amongst the US is $17.60b while US was $17.60 halal meat exbillion while halal porters. he was all halal products products constipraised for the constitute 18% of tuted 18 per cent steps taken by Punof the world food jab Chief Minister the world market. Similarly, Shahbaz Sharif for the food market volume of halal food promotion of halal meat of Europe had reached exports from Punjab and $67 billion. he said many said the government could also support the exporters on that pattern as companies in Europe had converted they could earn precious foreign ex- themselves according to consumers of change for the country and strengthen halal products. however, he said their the national economy. Saifi said that ac- contribution was negligible in this cording to a survey the global Muslim trade. 'Indian halal food export had population is around 1.86 billion, which reached $23 billion per annum, which constitutes 30 per cent of the total world should be a matter of concern for Pakpopulation. he said according to a re- istan,' Saifi added. he called for unport volume of halal products was $635 derstanding the importance of mark of 'certified halal products' on these billion dollars in the year 2010. he said volume of halal market in products. he said if Pakistan wanted
to compete with other countries in WTO regime then it had to promote its products at international level and devise an effective policy for promoting products as certified halal items at the earliest. he said exporters of halal food and meat were facing numerous challenges and hardships in Pakistan which should be resolved at the earliest to promote food processing and export industry. he said exporters should be given special incentives and get rid of unjustifiable taxes and export tax, interference of provincial institutions and uninterrupted gas and electricity supply. It would help not only this industry but also earn the precious foreign exchange and bridging the gap between their import and export bill, he added.
SECP issues 73 show-cause notices to various companies Karachi Staff RepoRt
With an aim to safeguard the investors’ interest in both listed and unlisted corporate sector, the Enforcement Department of the SECP in July and August initiated 73 show-cause proceedings against chief executives, directors and auditors of different companies. The regulator moved in view of the breaches of statutory requirements related to takeover regulations, issuance of auditors’ reports, powers of directors, holding and proceedings of annual general meeting, direction to hold over-due annual general meetings, investment in associated companies and undertakings, reporting of facts, employees’ provident funds, circulation of financial statements, disclosure of directors’ interests, treatment of surplus on reval-
uation of fixed assets, and security deposits. The department concluded 66 proceedings against chief executives, directors and auditors of companies either by penalizing them or by issuance of warning to the identified defaulters, depending on the nature and impact of default. In addition, the department also initiated inspection into the affairs of two companies. Addressing the grievances of investors, the department resolved 29 complaints pertaining to nonissuance of shares, non-verification of transfer deeds, and non-payment of dividends. In addition, the SECP during the months granted exemption to five companies from the requirements of filing of consolidated financial statements, as available under the law. A listed company was allowed to change its financial year to coincide with the year-end of its financial statements with that of its parent company. An application for registration as a group was also approved.
SCIENTIFIC TRUTH ABOUT AGRI BIOTECHNOLOGY Introduced fIrst In 1996, today genetIcally-modIfIed or bIotech crops are beIng grown by mIllIons of farmers across the globe from the unIted states to phIlIppInes LahOrE NaSIR BUtt
Introduction of new technologies has always been resisted in any field by the people who are the beneficiaries of the status-quo and those afraid of any new technology. Same thing is happening to agriculture in Pakistan and there is heated debate in the country on the introduction of genetically-modified or biotech crops, although data shows it is the most rapidly adopted crop technology in the history of modern agriculture. Introduced first in 1996, today genetically-modified or biotech crops are being grown by millions of farmers across the globe – from the United States to Philippines. According to the latest report of International Service for the Acquisition of Agri-biotech Applications (ISAAA), which has been tracking global biotech crop adoption trends since the inception of biotechnology in 1996, the global adoption of biotech crops continued to rise in 2012 with
new countries realising the benefits. hectarage of biotech crops increased every single year between 1996-2012 with double-digit growth rates, reflecting the confidence and trust of millions of riskaverse farmers around the world in both developing and industrial countries. At a time when the world is turning to science and technology, particularly biotechnology, to meet much-needed challenges in agriculture, Pakistan seems to be lacking a national strategy and plan of action to fully use this revolutionary science. While there is a disinformation and misinformation campaign because of lack of understanding of agri-sciences, the voices of the experts, who know what agricultural biotechnology exactly is, are being ignored. Biotech crops are not new to Pakistan. Pakistan has already embraced crop biotechnology by commercialising Bt cotton (although through informal channel). According to the ISAAA, Pakistan is among the 10 countries which grew biotech crops on more than one
million hectares in 2012. Now, Pakistan is in the process of approving GM corn, whose field trials have been completed as per government rules and regulations for commercial cultivation. Before clarifying myths that are propagated by anti-science and low-quality seed companies, we must know that what exactly biotechnology is and how it works. have you ever wondered where our crops come from and what were they like thousands of years ago, or hundreds of years ago? The truth is that our food crops today are in fact very different from the original wild plants from which they were derived. The fact is that crop biotechnology is just an evolution of traditional agricultural methods and merely an extension of traditional breeding. Almost all GM crops are based on two well-established and rigorously tested technologies. First, Bt crops produce a bacterial protein known as Bacillus thuringiensis. It’s naturally occurring—and it’s widely used by organic farmers to selectively kill pest insects. Genetically engineered Bt crops simply produce their own Bt. The effects are identical to what happens on organic farms—which is what makes protests against genetically-engineered Bt crops seem so bizarre to scientists. The net result
is that Bt crops increase yields because farmers lose fewer crops to insect pests. The other major GM crops are those designed to be herbicide-tolerant, most commonly glyphosate, and better known as Roundup. Glyphosate is biodegradable and breaks down rapidly in the environment. Because the weed killer is more powerful and less toxic than the chemicals that it competed with, farmers quickly adopted glyphosate. In case of GM corn, plants have been genetically modified to have agronomic desirable traits. Traits that have been engineered into corn include resistance to insect pests and herbicide tolerance. It means that GM corn makes a protein that kills specific insect pests without the use of insecticides. Besides, it can also reduce the losses caused
Stocks end lower, rupee steady Karachi Staff RepoRt
The country’s main stock exchange closed lower on Tuesday as investors anticipated more interest rate hikes from the central bank. The benchmark 100-share index of the Karachi Stock Exchange fell 0.76 percent or 176.18 points to 23,066.50. Investors cashed in shares and relatively low volumes of stock were traded. The fall followed Friday's decision by the central bank to raise interest rates from 9.0 percent to 9.5 percent, in line with monetary reforms demanded by the International Monetary Fund in return for a bailout package. The rise in interest rates may signal a slowdown for investors after a period of rapid growth. The Karachi Stock Exchange was among the world's top performing stock markets last year, offering returns of 50 percent. Engro Corporation Ltd fell 1.68 percent to 143 rupees while Maple Leaf Cement Factory Ltd was down 3.35 percent to 25.40 rupees. The rupee ended steady at 104.94/104.99 against the dollar, compared to Monday's close of 104.94/104.99.
WB to provide $ 0.9m for competitive industries in KP
ISLAMABAD: Pakistan signed a grant agreement of US$ 09 million with the World Bank on Tuesday for “Competitive Industries Project in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa” to be funded under the Multi-Donor Trust Fund (MDTF). The agreement was signed by Nargis Sethi, Secretary Economic Affair Division on behalf of the government of Pakistan, Sajid Khan Jadoon, Secretary Industry, on behalf of the government of Khyber Pakhtunkhwa and Rachid Benmessaoud, Country Director World Bank on behalf of the World Bank. The agreement is in line with the present government policy of generating economic activities in all the federating units particularly Khyber Pakhtunkhwa to offset effects of the fight against militancy and extremism. INp by weeds. In a nutshell, GM corn is just an improved version of traditional corn and can be the solution to the major problems (insect pests and weeds) our corn farmers are facing today. The GM corn has the capability of significantly reducing the losses caused by certain chewing insect pests and weeds which in turn results in higher production. This transgenic maize provides inplant protection with dual modes of action to protect against certain above-ground pests that plague Pakistani farmers including the corn Stem borer, (Chilo partellus), American Bollworm (helicoverpa Armigera), army worm (Spodoptera Litura) and beet armyworm (Spodoptera Exigua). It also provides the corn plant with tolerance to glyphosate, the active ingredient in Roundup(r) brand agricultural herbicides, opening up new possibilities for weed control for Pakistani farmers. This technology is also environment friendly because use of pesticides will decrease considerably. Therefore, the scientific truth is that biotechnology is just a refinement of breeding techniques that have been used to improve plants for thousands of years. This technology is simply a more precise science, so scientists are able to isolate a specific gene to make exact changes to a crop. Scientists around the world agree that the risks associated with crop plants developed using biotechnology are the same as those for similar varieties developed using traditional breeding methods.