Friday, 30 November, 2012

NEW DELHI

ONLINE

INDIA on Thursday assured ahigh level Pakistan business del-egation of steps to enhance mu-tual economic engagement,through setting up of bank

branches in each other’s territory andopening up of more trade routes.

“Let both the countries quickly estab-lish two bank branches first. We may alsolook at the possibility of expanding andbringing in some private sector banks,”Commerce and Industry Minister AnandSharma told the delegation reported PTI.

He said India is keen to open moretrade routes between the countries toboost bilateral commerce.

“We are keen...In our state of Punjab,they want opening up of more borderpoints and also in Rajasthan. I believe

there is a similar desire from the Pakistanside so that other states of Pakistan arealso connected,” Sharma said.

Meanwhile, according to an official,the Minister informed the delegation thatIndia is working on a textile policy specif-ically for its neighbouring countries.

“The ministry is working on theSouth Asia Textile Cooperation Policy,”an official said.

This comes in the wake of allegationsfrom a Pakistan delegation member thathis country’s textile industry was given adifferent treatment by India as comparedto other neighbouring countries.

One of the member of the businessdelegation during the meeting allegedthat India gives more concessions toBangladesh textile firms compared toPakistan and that it was a discriminationwhich should be removed, a source said.

On the visa issue, Sharma said that

Pakistan should operationalise theprocess soon for smooth movement ofbusinessmen from both countries.

India and Pakistan signed a new visaagreement on September 8 in Islamabad.Once implemented, the agreement willlead to liberalising of the bilateral visaregime and introduction of a number ofmeasures aimed at easing travel, includ-ing visits for business purposes.

“The new visa Agreement has still notcome into force.

Pakistan needs to indicate its readi-ness to bring into force the new visaagreement. We are ready to do so,”Sharma told the delegation.

On foreign direct investment, theminister asked the Pakistan businessleaders to seek assistance from ‘InvestIndia’ — a vehicle to guide investmentsinto the country.

Meanwhile, Chairman of Pakistan

Business Council Ali S Habib saidSharma told the delegation that steps arebeing taken to remove non-tariff barriers.

“We have been assured that steps areand will be taken (in this regard),” Habibsaid after the meeting.

He said tremendous opportunitiesexisted for business communities fromboth the countries.

“In so many sectors we can cooperate.India produces all kinds of raw materialsand products that Pakistan is importing.Pakistan is very strong in textiles,” hesaid.

He said there is a need to focus on is-sues like logistics, transportation, bettervisa regime and more points for flow ofgoods between the countries.

The 11-member business delegationis here on a three-day visit. The bilateraltrade between the two countries currentlystood at $ 2.7 billion.

India desires mutual economic engagements

ISLAMABAD

ONLINE

Pakistan and Malaysia have decided to fur-ther enhance bilateral cooperation in thefield of agriculture with Malaysia agreeingto import more livestock, fish, rice, beef,fruits and vegetables from Pakistan.

“We are already importing a consid-erable amount of rice, fruits and otherfood products from Pakistan and we wantthis cooperation to grow further in thecoming months,” said Malaysia’s Agricul-ture and Agro-based Industry MinisterDatuk Seri Noh Omar during a meetingwith Pakistan’s Minister for NationalFood Security and Research IsrarullahZehri in Kuala Lumpur.

During the meeting, Malaysia’s Agri-culture and Agro-based Industry MinisterDatuk Seri Noh Omar recalled his visit toPakistan in December 2009 and hismeeting with the then Minister for Agri-culture Nazar Mohammad Gondal. Healso mentioned about 171 buffalos whichwere given to Malaysia by the Govern-

ment of Punjab and called for relaxingthe procedure for importing more ani-mals from Pakistan as Malaysia was inneed of many more.

He also appreciated the quality ofPakistani fruits specially mangoes and ki-noos and hoped that the quantum offruits being imported from Pakistan willincrease with the passage of time.

Datuk Seri Noh Omar noted that fol-lowing his visit to Pakistan, three sepa-rate Memorandum of Understandings(MoUs) had been signed between the twogovernments for exchange of scientificknowledge and technology cooperation aswell as for the import and distribution offruit juices, fruit-based consumer prod-ucts and frozen beef from Pakistan toMalaysia. Similarly, a Letter of Intent hadalso been signed between the Govern-ment of Punjab and the Department ofVeterinary Services Malaysia for expand-ing cooperation in the veterinary sector.

Datuk Seri Noh Omar said theMalaysian government had moved swiftlyon implementing these MoUs and it had

already granted license for export of Pak-istani beef to Malaysia while a total of 171animals, including Neeli Ravi buffaloes,had also been imported from Pakistan fordeveloping “our buffalo industry and im-proving their gene pool”. He also referredto the growing import of Pakistani rice toMalaysia which imported 43,000 MT ofPakistani rice in 2009 but increased it to123,000 MT in 2010 and to a sizeable148,000 MT in 2011 respectively.

Federal Minister for National FoodSecurity and Research Israrullah Zehrithanked his Malaysian counterpart forinviting him to attend the MalaysianAgriculture, Horticulture and Agro-tourism Show (MAHA) 2012 and urgedthe Malaysian government to consider in-creasing import of beef and mutton fromPakistan as quality of meat was very goodand the slaughtering of animals was inaccordance with Halal standards. He alsoinvited his Malaysian counterpart to visitPakistan in February 2012 to attend thelivestock fair held in Sibi Balochistan.

Later, Israrullah Zehri visited various

pavilions and stalls set up at MAHA 2012.He evinced keen interest in various prod-ucts, food items and livestock put on dis-play. Later, he also spoke to the localmedia and shared with them various pro-posals and measures currently being pur-sued by Pakistan and Malaysia toenhance mutual cooperation in a diverserange of fields, including import of agri-cultural machinery and equipment; tech-

niques of horticulture fruit-growing andvegetable gardening; plant protectionand fertilizers; livestock farming andbreeding; Green House technology; feedand feedstuff production; veterinarymedicine; fish farming; energy-savingtechnologies for agriculture; productionof biomass fuel, biogas, biodiesel, renew-able and alternative energies (Biofuel);and water management and forestry.

Malaysia eyes Pakistani livestock, food products

‘D-8 summit was a failure’ISLAMABAD: Pakistan EconomyWatch (PEW) on Thursday said outcomeof recently held D-8 Summit was nothingmore than disappointment.The Summit produced a largely mean-

ingless document that failed to addressthe challenges the block is faced with, itsaid. The 35-point declaration of theeighth Summit was as flawed as the out-come, said Dr. Murtaza Mughal, Presi-dent PEW. The D-8 member states arefacing challenges like energy scarcity, in-ternational pressures, food security,communal violence, terrorism, naturaldisaster and a tarnished image whichneeded to be addressed through joint ef-forts, he said. However, the Summitfailed to announce any solid decision andrelied on promises, claims and hollowcommitments, he added. Dr. MurtazaMughal said that stressing the need forjoint efforts is not enough to justify thespending on such an event when countryis relying on aid and loans. In fact, D-8 has done nothing since last15 years therefore no one should pin anyhope for betterment or change, he ob-served. He said that the summit has ex-pressed intent to increase the bloc’strade from $130 billion to US$507 bil-lion by 2018 but it seems a difficult taskin absence of any concrete plan.Declaration was disappointing from anystandard and remained useless as it wasfocused on using language to pleasemasses. Majority of the countries of thegroup have enormous natural and humanresources but what they lack is sincereleadership, Dr. Mughal noted. ONLINE

‘Agribusiness isPakistan’s future’KARACHI: The Entrepreneurship De-velopment Program is an initiative tocreate capacity in the educated youth ofSindh for self-employment and utilizethe untapped resource base of agricul-ture of Sindh to its optimum capacity.This was stated by Chairman SBIZubair Motiwala after a gracefullaunching ceremony and Orientationsession of Entrepreneurship Develop-ment Program held at the Center forEntrepreneurship Development of In-stitute of Business Administration(IBA), here on Thursday. The ceremonywas attended by the faculty of IBAKarachi led by Dean and Director Dr.Ishrat Husain as well as Sindh Board ofInvestment. The main purpose of theceremony was to welcome the first in-coming batch of the program consistingof 75 students fro the southern districtsof Sindh, including Karachi. This is aunique initiative taken by Governmentof Sindh which includes 6-month train-ing program conceived and funded bythe SBI and being executed by IBAKarachi and Sukkur IBA.The vision behind the program hasbeen highly appreciated at all levels inwhich heightened focus has been givento entrepreneurship and many advan-tages enterprise development like in-come generation, innovation andprogress. It was further informed thatEDP is a unique training program,which will be executed by IBA Karachiin lower Sindh and by Sukkut IBA forapplicants from northern districts ofSindh. STAFF REPORT

KARACHI

STAFF REPORT

The National Clearing Company ofPakistan (NCCPL) has revised the feeit charges from the equity investors ontrades and transactions used for thecomputation and determination of theCapital Gain Tax (CGT). The revisedfee ranges form Rs 240 to Rs 24,000depending on the annual value oftrades and transactions.

The move, a company statementThursday said, wasaimed at provid-ing “relief to thei n v e s t o r s ” .The NCCPLw o u l dimple-

ment slab based annual CGT fee forthe investors according to their valuesof trades and transactions.

As per the revised schedule, theNCCPL said, if annual traded value ofan investor is less than Rs 100,000, nofee would be charged to such investor.If annual traded value of an investor isbetween Rs 100,000 to Rs 5 million,fee of Rs 240 would be charged to suchinvestor.

If annual traded value of an in-vestor is between Rs 5 million to Rs 10million, fee of Rs 360 would becharged to such investor. If annual

traded value of an investor is be-tween Rs 10 million to Rs 50

million, fee of Rs 600would be charged

to such investor.If annual

t r a d e dvalue ofan in-

vestori sbe-

tween Rs 50 million to Rs 100 million,fee of Rs 1,800 would be charged tosuch investor. If annual traded valueof an investor is between Rs 100 mil-lion to Rs 500 million, fee of Rs 3,600would be charged to such investor.

If annual traded value of an in-vestor is between Rs 500 million to Rs1.0 billion, fee of Rs 12,000 would becharged to such investor.

If annual traded value of an in-vestor is between Rs 1.0 billion to Rs5.0 billion, fee of Rs 18,000 would becharged to such investor and if annualtraded value of an investor is over Rs5.0 billion, fee of Rs 24,000 would becharged to such investor.

In an earlier statement, the com-pany announced to have collected thetax on capital gains from the equity in-vestments to the tune of Rs 310 mil-lion during the six-month periodranging form April 24 to September30, 2012.

The company said during the pe-riod under review it had collected CGTworth Rs 103.27 million during April24-June 30 and Rs 206.35 millionduring July 1-September 30, respec-tively, on account of trades and trans-actions executed and settled at thecountry’s stocks market.

“Whereas the collection of Octoberis underway,” it said.

NCCPL revises yearly CGT fee to Rs 24,000

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Friday, 30 November, 2012

Major Gainers

COMPANY OPEN HIGH LOW CLOSE CHANGE TURNOVERUniLever Pak 10185.00 10694.25 10600.00 10694.25 509.25 5,620Unilever Food 4200.00 4410.00 4351.00 4410.00 210.00 400Colgate Palmolive 1300.00 1365.00 1365.00 1365.00 65.00 50Island Textile 864.15 907.00 907.00 907.00 42.85 100Sanofi-Aventis Pak 332.00 348.60 347.00 348.60 16.60 600

Major LosersMithchells Fruit 366.00 350.00 350.00 350.00 -16.00 200Exide (PAK) 330.00 325.00 313.50 314.86 -15.14 5,000Sunrays TextileXD 181.00 172.00 171.95 171.95 -9.05 1,000Sapphire FiberXD 173.90 165.21 165.21 165.21 -8.69 600Attock Cement 107.04 108.39 101.70 102.29 -4.75 219,500

Volume Leaders

Jah.Sidd. Co. 15.68 16.68 15.67 16.65 0.97 28,092,000D.G.K.Cement 55.14 55.25 53.96 54.20 -0.94 19,389,000Fauji Cement 6.94 6.99 6.81 6.84 -0.10 18,845,500Maple Leaf Cement 16.09 16.05 15.10 15.22 -0.87 18,813,000Byco Petroleum 10.31 11.05 10.30 10.62 0.31 9,885,500

Interbank RatesUS Dollar 96.6082UK Pound 154.7084Japanese Yen 1.1764Euro 125.3684

Dollar EastBUY SELL

US Dollar 97.10 97.60Euro 124.61 126.19Great Britain Pound 154.03 155.94Japanese Yen 1.1649 1.1794Canadian Dollar 96.53 98.24Hong Kong Dollar 12.27 12.49UAE Dirham 26.20 26.50Saudi Riyal 25.70 25.95Australian Dollar 99.92 102.62

Business

NEWS DESK

BP has been temporarily suspendedfrom new contracts with the USgovernment, the EnvironmentalProtection Agency (EPA) has said.While it is unclear how long the

ban will last, it follows BP’s record fine earlier thismonth over the 2010 oil spill in the Gulf of Mexico.The EPA said it was taking action due to BP’s “lackof business integrity”over its handling of theblowout. But BP said it had spent $14bn (£8.8bn)on its response to the spill.

“The BP suspension will temporarily preventthe company and the named affiliates from gettingnew federal government contracts, grants or othercovered transactions until the company can pro-vide sufficient evidence to EPA demonstrating thatit meets federal business standards,” said the EPAin a statement. “Suspensions are a standard prac-tice when a responsibility question is raised by ac-tion in a criminal case.”

‘Resolve and lift’ banThe EPA and BP both said that the temporary

ban would not affect existing agreements BP haswith the government. The oil giant added that thesuspension may in fact be lifted quite soon.

“The EPA has informed BP that it is preparinga proposed administrative agreement that, ifagreed upon, would effectively resolve and lift thistemporary suspension,” BP said.

“Over the past five years, BP has investedmore than $52bn in the United States - more thanany other oil and gas company, and more than itinvests in any other country where it operates. Ontop of this business investment, BP has to datespent more than $14bn in operational responseand clean-up costs.”

Since the Deepwater Horizon accident, the UShas granted BP more than 50 new leases in theGulf of Mexico, where the company has beendrilling safely since the government moratoriumwas lifted. For now, BP is to be excluded from thelease of new exploration fields in the Gulf of Mex-ico, including some 20 million acres that was auc-tioned on Wednesday.

‘Reckless’Congressman Ed Markey, a senior member of

the Natural Resources Committee in Congress,said: “When someone recklessly crashes a car,their licence and keys are taken away.”

“The wreckage of BP’s recklessness is still sit-ting at the bottom of the ocean and this kind oftime out is an appropriate element of the suite ofcriminal, civil and economic punishments that BPshould pay for their disaster,” he added.g 20 April 2010: Explosion of Deepwater Hori-

zon oil rig, killing 11. Rig burns for 36 hours,before sinking to seabed

g 30 May: Oil slick 9 miles off Louisiana coast,and US begins criminal and civil investigation

g 16 June: BP agrees to put $20bn in an escrow

fund to settle claims by fisherman and otherswhose businesses suffered

g 1 July: The spill surpasses the 140m gallonmark, becoming the biggest offshore oil spill

g 8 Sept: In a 193-page internal report into thedisaster, BP accuses well contractor Hallibur-ton and rig owner Transocean. The pair dis-miss BP’s claims. All three blame one anotherover the years

g 19 Sept: BP permanently “kills” leaking wellg 15 Dec: US launches legal battle against BP and

its partnersg 12 Jan 2011: 380-page government-commis-

sioned report says BP’s time and cost-savingdecisions led to disaster

g 2 March 2012: A few days before trial was tobegin, BP and lawyers for plaintiffs reach a set-tlement

g 15 Nov: BP agrees to pay $4.5bn fine to US gov-ernment, two BP officials are charged withmanslaughter and former executive chargedwith lying to authorities

g 28 Nov: BP temporarily banned from new UScontractsBP’s finance director Brian Gilvary told in-

vestors earlier this month that the group wouldhave to rethink its entire US strategy were a blan-ket ban put in place.

“How big this is depends on how long it lasts,”said Phil Weiss, an analyst at Argus Research.

“It’s a negative that they can’t participate in(Wednesday’s sale), but it’s not a big concern. If ithappens two times, or three times, or 10 times, it’sa much bigger concern.”

Pentagon contractsThe US is vital for BP, accounting for more

than 20% of its global daily production. It hasploughed more than $52bn (£32bn) into US en-ergy development projects since 2007, more thanany other country BP invests in.

The UK company was the biggest fuel supplierto the US Department of Defense, which awardedit contracts valued at about $1.35bn in 2011.

BP’s contracts with the US military jumped33% over a year in 2011, according to data fromBloomberg. The group was awarded a fuel contractin May from the Pentagon while it faced mountinglegal costs over the disaster.

The Deepwater Horizon accident, in which anoil rig exploded killing 11 people, caused one of theworst oil spills in history. BP has pleaded guilty to14 criminal charges over the accident.

The EPA is the lead agency for suspension anddebarment matters regarding BP and has the author-ity to disbar individuals and companies under sec-tions of the Clean Air Act and the Clean Water Act.

PSO Street Support

Programme at Thatta

THATTA: PSO CEO & MD, Mr. Naeem YahyaMir visited Thatta to carry out the ground break-ing ceremony for the PSO Street Support Program.Under this CSR initiative, the national oil giantwill develop two streets in low income areas ofeach province with state-of-the-art facilities andinfrastructure. Through this program the com-pany will engage its employees at a grass rootslevel in order to improve the lives of the inhabi-tants of these areas and provide for a better,brighter future for the people of Pakistan.

Rising Sun empowering 100,000

students with special needs

LAHORE: Rising Sun Education & Welfare Soci-ety (RSE&WS) fulfilling its role as a stellar organi-zation in the betterment of lives of children withspecial needs launched a series of 25 courses in“Special Needs and Inclusive Education” in No-vember 2011. Having the experience of teachingand training special needs children since 1984,Rising Sun Education & Welfare Society partnered

with United States Agency of International Devel-opment (USAID) to raise awareness and improvethe livelihoods of children with special needs. Theproject nearing its completion has successfullyprovided training to 750 regular school teachers inPunjab and benefitted more than 100,000 stu-dents under the supervision of National RuralSupport Program (NRSP).Expressing his views on the success of the project,Dr. Tawwab Khan, founder of Rising Sun Educa-tion and Welfare Society stated “There is a seriouslack of awareness in Pakistan to matters pertain-ing to children with special needs and disabilities.As one of the first organization with immense ex-perience of teaching and providing training tospecial needs children we feel it is our utmost dutyto create community awareness.

BOK Raast Islamic

Banking inaugurated

BATTAGRAM: The Bank of Khyber (BOK) RaastIslamic Banking Branch oformally inaugurated atBattagram today. Mr. Bilal Mustafa, Managing Di-rector BOK said BOK is committed to cater theBanking requirements of all segment of society,BOK providing Islamic Banking & Financial serv-

ices requirement as well as conventional in a befit-ting manner in order to encourage the economicdevelopmental activities in the region. He wasspeaking at the formal inauguration of BOK RaastIslamic Banking branch at Main Bazzar, Batta-gram in a simple but graceful ceremony. The in-augural ceremony was also attended by notablesof the area & business community.

Ufone announces winners

of ‘10 Say 10 Lakh’ offer

LAHORE: Ufone recently announced the winnersfor the“10 say 10 lakh” offer and the ten lucky re-cipients of Rs.10 Lakh got to experience a lifetimeopportunity which would change their lives. It maybe recalled here that Ufone had provided a chancefor customers to win Rs 10 Lakh simply by con-suming a balance of Rs.10 any day till November10. Interestingly the more balance any customerconsumed during this promotional period, themore chances accrued to the customer for winningcash prizes through a lucky draw. The lucky win-ners are Muhammad Usman ( Kohat ) , Abdul Ra-sool ( Shahdad Kot ) , Safeer Ahmed Sajan (Multan ) , Khalid Iqbal Burney ( Karachi ) , JunaidSukkur, Syed Khalid Hussain ( Lahore ) , ShahidIqbal ( Jhang ) , Shabbir Hussain ( Gujranwala ) ,Qasim Jan ( Swabi ) and Shabana Bano ( Karachi ).

11th Teradata National IT

Excellence Awards

KARACHI: Teradata Corporation (NYSE: TDC),the data analytic solutions company, announced thatnominations for the 11th Teradata National IT Excel-lence Awards are being accepted until January 1st ,

2013. Nominations will be received for the periodJanuary 2011- December 2011. The awards program,sponsored by Teradata, was designed to acknowl-edge outstanding achievements by individuals inPakistan’s information technology (IT) community.

8th UMT Convocation 2012

KARACHI: The 8th Convocation of the University ofManagement and Technology (UMT) will be held onSaturday, December 01, 2012 at 9:00 a.m. at the UMTcampus. A total of 999 students are passing out fromvarious disciplines/programs, while 42 students shallreceive various medals including Patron, Rector andsponsor medals on the basis of outstanding academicperformance. The Convocation will be attended byeducationists, dignitaries, graduating students andtheir parents. Prof Dr Atta-ur-Rahman, former Fed-eral Minister for Science and Technology and formerChairman, Higher Education Commission, will be thechief guest on this auspicious occasion.

NESPAK wins two dam

projects in Afghanistan

KABUL: NESPAK has won two mega dam proj-ects in Afghanistan after an international opencompetition, which shows its recognition as aworld-class consultant, not only in Pakistan butabroad as well. The two multipurpose dam proj-ects i.e.; Bakshabad (Farah Rud) Dam Projectand Pashdan Dam Project have been awarded bythe Ministry of Energy and Water, Kabul,Afghanistan. Bakhshabad Dam Project consistsof a dam, a powerhouse, appurtenant structures,a barrage 60 Km downstream of the dam, leftand right main irrigation canals and irrigationcommand area.

CORPORATE CORNER

BP faces temporary banfrom new US contracts

Stocks recover, euro paresloss on Boehner words

NEW YORK: U.S. and European stocksrebounded to post gains while the europared losses on Wednesday as investorsshifted into buying mode after perceivedpositive news on U.S. budget talks. U.S.House Speaker John Boehner, an Ohio Re-publican, said he is willing to put revenueson the table if accompanied by spendingcuts. But he repeated his opposition toraising income tax rates. Boehner’s com-ments came as U.S. indexes were marking

session lows and produced a sharp turnaround that reverberatedthrough other markets. Investors remained skeptical over theplan agreed to late Monday by international lenders to reduceGreece’s debts, but they were more focused on the positive news.The Greek deal opened the way for more aid to Athens to avoid achaotic default, but details remain unclear and analysts worry itwill not do enough to make Greece’s debt viable. AGENCIES

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