Pak-China Trade Swells from $9.3b To $11.8b In One Year Chief Minister Punjab Mian Shahbaz Sharif has said that China is the most reliable friend, has always stood with Pakistan and helped it in all respects. He was speaking at Pakistan-China Business Opportunities Conference jointly organized by the Lahore Chamber of Commerce & Industry, Punjab Board of Investment & Trader (PBIT). A 100-member Chinese delegation also attended the Conference while LCCI President Sheikh Muhammad Arshad, Senior Vice President Almas Hyder, Vice President Nasir Saeed also spoke on the occasion while Consul General of China in Lahore Yu Boren, Chairman Pak-China Friendship Association Sha Zukang, Provincial Minister Ayesha Ghous Pasha, Chairman Punjab Board of Investment & Trade Abdul Basit, former LCCI Presidents, Senior Vice Presidents, Vice Presidents and Executive Committee Members were also present in the Conference. Chief Minister Punjab said that China is a very important partner in Pakistan Economic Development and Bilateral trade. The involvement of Chinese enterprises both in term of technical and financial assistance in several development projects is reflective of our cordial relations based on mutual trust and sincerity. Shahbaz Sharif termed the China-Pakistan Economic Corridor as an energy and infrastructure program with the investment of $46bn in Pakistan. He said that $ 46 billion is the biggest investment ever made by China in any foreign country. This program, he said, when completed would help end power outages in the country, and ensure seamless connectivity between China, South and Central Asia. He said that investment climate is getting better with every passing day due to best policies of Punjab government and all possible facilities are being provided to foreign investors. The LCCI President Sheikh Muhammad Arshad said that both the countries not only share border but also have unanimity of views on various political & economic issues. He said...

State Minister for Privatisation Mohammad Zubair said on Tuesday that the Pakistan Steel Mills (PSM) would be on sale in the next one to two months whereas marketing process of Pakistan International Airlines (PIA) privatisation will be started after the completion/resolution of some issues. He made these remarks while addressing the "Pakistan-China Business Friendship Conference" organised by the Commerce Ministry. PIA, the state-owned airline, is at its last stage of the privatisation process, said the minister, adding that they have already been talking to some of the private Chinese Airlines who have shown a lot of interest in this regard. He said they will start the marketing process after resolving some issues so it is being delayed for one to two months. The minister said there are a lot of investment opportunities in the country and especially for the Chinese investors. The government is talking about the PSM privatisation and it would be on sale in the next one to two months. In September, a road show was carried in China where a lot of positive response was received. The minister said that Pakistan significantly depends on Chinese investment and trade to boost its economy. There are a lot of investment opportunities not only for the local but for foreigners and Chinese investors especially, he said. Pakistan prefers China over other countries because of its ties with China and they needed to be further converted into meaningful economic relations. There is another way of investment in Pakistan and that is through the privatisation process, said the minister, adding that the objectives of privatisation in the country were to enhance service delivery to the people, strengthen Pakistan's fiscal position, attract private capital, technology and management and deepen Pakistan's capital markets. There are two modes of privatisation (i) strategic sale/Public-Private Partnership which comprises complete or partial sale of assets and business with transfer of...

The Senate Special Committee on the China-Pakistan Economic Corridor steered a meeting over the alleged irregularities in the contract. The meeting was presided by its convener and Pakistan People’s Party (PPP) senator Taj Haider.  The purpose of meeting was to show critical concerns for the loopholes in the tendering process of Karachi-Lahore Motorway. The committee requested for the comprehensive record of CPEC projects from the concerned divisions and asked the government to submit the report in the subsequent meeting.[1] Speaking in the opening session of the two-day Pak-China Business opportunities conference, the Chinese ambassador to Pakistan Sun Weidong declared that with the 3.6 billion dollar investment, the government of China has instigated its tycoons to invest in Pakistan. He affirmed the efficient execution of the China-Pakistan Economic Corridor (CPEC) project.[2] The President of Pakistan Mamnoon Hussain also endorsed the significance of CPEC project in the Pak-China bilateral economic terms. Talking about the investment strategy 2013-17, he said that by the implementation of investment strategy, the government deliberated to attract more foreign direct investments.[3] [1] http://nation.com.pk/national/19-Jan-2016/senate-panel-on-cpec-shows-concern [2] http://dailythepatriot.com/china-satisfied-with-smooth-functioning-of-cpec-sun-weidong/ [3] http://www.pakistantoday.com.pk/2016/01/18/news/cpec-gives-a-new-dimension-to-pak-china-economic-ties-president/

A hacker proclaiming allegiance to the Islamic State terrorist group infiltrated the internal network of one of China’s top universities to display images of masked and mounted militants, reports said Monday. The hacker also reprogrammed pages of Tsinghua University’s in-house course portal to display Arabic verses from Islamic scripture accompanied by music, a student newspaper at the Beijing institution reported. Instead of displaying links to class resources and departmental information, the site showed a photo of four hooded fighters on horseback riding beneath the flag of Islamic State, according to screenshots. The cyber-intruder identified himself as an “Islamic State Hacker”. “God is great, I am unafraid of death, dying a martyr’s death is my ultimate goal,” reports translated an Arabic message as reading. The student newspaper report was widely reposted by state-run media, but the original has since been deleted. Mainland China operates some of the tightest online controls in the world, with content deemed to be sensitive deleted and access to some Western websites blocked. China’s far western region of Xinjiang is home to the mostly Muslim Uighur minority and the scene of sporadic, bloody violence which the ruling Communist Party attributes to separatist religious extremists with overseas links. Critics accuse Beijing of discriminating against Uighur culture and religion. Chinese state-run media have accused Uighurs of trying to escape the country to join terrorist groups abroad. The department responsible for maintenance of Tsinghua University’s website declined to confirm the incident to AFP. Tsinghua, in Beijing, quickly shut down the server after the breach on Sunday evening was discovered, the reports said Publisehd on http://www.pakistantoday.com.pk/2016/01/18/foreign/top-chinese-university-hacked-by-islamic-state-infiltrator-reports/

In Radio Pakistan's Current Affairs programme, economist Dr. Shahid Hassan Khan said that the China-Pakistan Economic Corridor (CPEC) will help Pakistan develop infrastructure which the country has desired since independence. Another economist Dr. Anwar Shah indicated that under CPEC capital will be invested all over the country.[1] Similarly, the Minister for Planning, Development and Reforms, Ahsan Iqbal, said that he believed 2016 would be a year of innovation, eminence and productivity for Pakistan. He said that the CPEC project would transform Pakistan into an economic hub and Khyber Pakhtunkhwa (KP) and Balochistan would benefit equally. He added that efforts were underway under Vision 2025 for making Pakistan the 25th largest economy in the world over the next decade.[2] Adviser to Prime Minister on Foreign Affairs Sartaj Aziz has also termed CPEC a key to curb poverty in the country. He said that it would offer employment opportunities and could act as a bulwark against the forces of extremism and terrorism.[3] The Chinese edition of the state-run tabloid Global Times conducted a survey where more than 200,000 internet users took part. Results indicate that people in China are keen to move ahead with Pakistan, rather than other neighboring countries, such as India.[4] Despite the aforementioned significance of the CPEC project, the political conflict still persists. The current government has been maligned by the Pakistan People’s Party of (PPP) for not taking the parliament on the board on this issue. The PPP denied the legal position of an 11-member committee instituted by the PM for the provincial level consultations over CPEC and considering the option to hold demonstration against the PM Nawaz Sharif in the upcoming session of the National Assembly.[5] [1] http://www.radio.gov.pk/newsdetail/81977/1 [2] http://www.dailytimes.com.pk/business/17-Jan-2016/pakistan-poised-to-rank-among-25-big-economies-by-2025 [3]...

ISLAMABAD - Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif yesterday summoned an all parties conference (APC) to meet today (Friday) to iron out differences and address concerns of the smaller provinces and regional parties on the vital China-Pakistan Economic Corridor. Officials said the prime minister wanted to address the grievances of the smaller provinces and the smaller parties in the APC. CPEC is a vital part of Silk Road Initiative - a vision and strategy of China to expand cultural and economic ties with Eurasian countries through cooperation and communication. In 2013, Chinese President Xi Jinping announced the Silk Road Economic Belt and 21st Century Maritime Silk Road Initiative to promote connectivity, cooperation and common prosperity along the ancient land and maritime Silk Road trade routes. The Belt and Road routes run through Asia, Europe and Africa, connecting the vibrant East Asia economic circle at one end and the developed European economic circle at the other, and encompassing countries with huge potential for economic development, according to an official publication by the Chinese government. Also in 2013, Pakistani-Chinese governments agreed to launch a landmark project called CPEC which will connect Pakistan’s deep sea Gwadar Port with China’s Xinjiang region. Both Pakistan and China are discussing a number of mega projects under the rubric of Economic Corridor in several fields like energy, infrastructure and connectivity which would revitalise Pakistan’s economy. The Economic Corridor, with a total investment of $46 billion, is a new glaring example of the close friendship between Pakistan and China. Officials said members of the committee formed in Peshawar’s APC will attend the meeting along with Jamiat Ulema-e-Islam (Fazl) chief Maulana Fazlur Rehman, Awami National Party leader Asfandyar Wali Khan, Pakhtunkhwa Milli Awami Party leader Mehmood Khan Achakzai, Jamaat-e-Islami leader Sirajul Haq, Chief Minister Khyber Pakhtunkhwa Pervez Khattak, Pakistan...

ISLAMABAD: Pakistan’s two-billion-dollar LNG pipeline project has hit a snag with Washington slapping a set of sanctions on the Russian firm designated to work on the scheme. Earlier, Pakistan was unable to execute the Iran-Pakistan (IP) gas pipeline project because of sanctions slapped on Tehran by the United States and the European Union. The Russian government had signed a deal with the Pakistani administration to lay a $2bn North South Pipeline from Karachi to Lahore to transport imported LNG, nominating the firm RT Global Resources (RTGR) to execute the project. Russian President Vladimir Putin was to visit Pakistan to perform the ground-breaking ceremony of the project. “Now we have found out that the US has imposed sanctions on RTGR, causing bottlenecks in executing the LNG pipeline project,” a Pakistani official said, adding that the US had also stopped Pakistan from executing the IP gas pipeline project. After the latest development, Pakistan and Russia are facing an uncertain situation as regards awarding the contract to RTGR. The two countries had signed a government-to-government deal, and RTGR and Pakistani firm Inter State Gas Systems were to sign a commercial agreement to execute the project. An official said the Russian government was evaluating the sanctions imposed on the Russian firm while Pakistan was yet to make a decision. The two governments had signed a deal in October 2015 to construct a pipeline to transport liquefied natural gas from Karachi to Lahore. Moscow had agreed to lend Islamabad $2 billion for the project. In return, Islamabad would award the contract of laying the pipeline to RTGR without holding a bidding process. The firm, which is a Russian state corporation, would lay the 1,100km pipeline with a capacity of 12.4 billion cubic metres per annum to connect LNG terminals in Karachi with those in Lahore. Pakistan has worked on a similar model with China under which a Chinese firm would lay an LNG pipeline from Gwadar to...