Romania For Improving Economic Ties With Pakistan

Exchange of trade delegations and participation in exhibitions will bring closer the private sectors of Romania and Pakistan, which will improve bilateral trade and economic relations.

This was stated by Khalid Tawab, Sr Vice President FPCCI.

He stressed the requirements for strengthening trade and economic relations between Romania and Pakistan and said that both countries have prospects in different sectors incorporating industries, information technology, agriculture, housing, construction, engineering and energy.

He made these remarks during a meeting with Ambassador of Romania Emilian Ion, who visited FPCCI alongside Tariq Saud, Honorary Consul General of Romania in Pakistan.

Tawab said that exchange of delegations is an imperative tool in improving trade.

He underscored on reactivation of exhibition activities of Pakistan in Romania and said that FPCCI will plan to organize Pakistan structure in the next Bucharest International Fair.

Ambassador of Romania said that Romania is the 7th biggest member of European Union.

He expressed Romania’s wish of working together with the Pakistani partners in each sector of the economy and culture also at all levels, in order to promote and consolidate the bilateral cooperation in the cultural, economic/trade, political and other fields.

The Romanian Ambassador additionally said that Pakistan is considered tourist destination.

He urged the business community to evolve an effective and sector-particularly strategy in collaboration with Romanian businessmen for expanding the volume of two-way trade.

Both sides decided to activate Joint Business Council of Romania and Pakistan.

Khalid Tawab further said that current volume of trade of $193 million doesn't reflect current potential between the two countries.

Pakistan’s major exports to Romania are cotton, worn clothing, textile articles, articles of leather, raw hides and skin, man-made staple fibre, travel goods, grain, oil seed, fruits, footwear, fruits and seed, etc.

Pakistan’s major imports from Romania are wood and articles of wood, oils and articles of iron or steel besides machinery, mineral fuels, electrical products, pharmaceutical products, wood charcoal, organic chemicals, articles of rubber and furniture etc, he included.


Originally Published on The Nation

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CCP Okays Mobilink-Warid Proposed Merger

The Competition Commission of Pakistan (CCP) has affirmed the proposed merger of Warid and Mobilink.

The merger approval is conditional upon compliance with the remedies force by CCP. The bench listening to the matter comprised of Vadiyya Khalil, CCP Chairperson, Dr Shahzad Ansar, Member Office of Fair Trade & Advocacy, and Ikram Ul Haque Qureshi, Member Cartels & Trade Abuse and Legal.

In its point by point order, the Commission has attempted a comprehensive competitive analysis of the merger to determine if it substantially lessens competition by creating or strengthening a dominant position. The assessment has been undertaken on the basis of extensive consultation with the merger parties, competitors, and the PTA.

While conducting its evaluation, the Commission noticed that the merger raised competition concerns, which were lightened by countervailing elements and efficiencies. The Commission identified a couple of insisting concerns in areas of spectrum concentration, non-compete obligations, infrastructure sharing, and joint control for which conditions have been forced.

In connection with the spectrum concentration, the Commission has made spectrum sharing mandatory upon determination of underutilized/inefficiently capacity by PTA. With respect to infrastructure sharing, the Commission has directed the parties to provide guest operators on their cell sites the first choice to purchase the site, directly or through an auction if there is more than one guest operator. To facilitate entry in the future, the Commission has forced an obligation to provide wholesale access to potential Mobile Virtual Network Operators (MVNOs).

To address the worry regarding the non-compete agreement, the term and extent of the non-compete responsibility have been limited. A firewall has been made between Mobilink and Abu Dhabi Group’s other businesses in the telecom industry. The remedies forced on VimpelCom and Telenor Group by virtue of the Commission’s order dated March 17, 2011, to address the problem of joint control have been further strengthened through the appointment of a 3rd party reviewer who will report an independent assessment of compliance with the Commission. 

Originally Publishes on The Nation

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Private Sector Company Permitted To Import LNG

ISLAMABAD: A private sector firm, Universal Gas Distribution Company (UGDC), was permitted on Wednesday to buy or import liquefied natural gas (LNG) from suppliers and sell it to CNG (compressed natural gas) stations across the country for vehicular utilization.

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Govt Hopes to Raise $1bn Through Eurobond Launch

ISLAMABAD:- Financial News: Pakistan expects raising up to $1 billion from global capital market on Wednesday (today) through Eurobond launch in New York in front of executive board meeting of the International Monetary Fund (IMF).

With this, Finance Minister Ishaq Dar is relied upon to come back with at any rate $1.5bn later this month to deliver on his guarantee to raise the country’s foreign exchange reserves to the most elevated ever $21bn.

The forex reserves were recorded at $18.726bn on September 11, 2015, including $13.69bn held by the State Bank of Pakistan and $5bn by the commercial/business banks.

Dar left on Tuesday for New York to lead decision of a progression of roadshows taking place over the last few days in London and a couple of major cities in the United States for the launch of Eurobond.

The shows started on September 18 from London as Secretary Finance Dr Waqar Masood and Governor SBP Ashraf Mahmood Wathra held marketing sessions with leading investors, delegates of leading banks, multinational companies/organizations and other financial institutions.

Second round of roadshows was held in Los Angeles and Boston currently week. The concluding session on September 24 in New York would focus the pricing of the bond and based on market reaction and pricing, the government would decided the final size of the transaction.

On September 28, the IMF executive board is scheduled to take up Pakistan’s request for two waivers on non-compliance of committed targets to clear way for disbursement of $502 million tranche.

If approved, this will take total disbursement under the $6.6bn bailout package of 36 months to $4.55bn.

The government has evaluated around Rs101bn as foreign inflows under Eurobonds during the current financial year ending June 2016. Budget plans suggest the government had targeted Rs49.5bn of Eurobonds in the last financial year but the transaction was delayed.

The government has been saying it planned raising $500m through Eurobonds as targeted for the current financial year but it would additionally like to make up for the delayed bond of last financial year, taking the total size of the bond to $1bn depending on pricing.

In April 2014, the government had raised $2bn through Eurobond, marking Pakistan’s reentry into the global capital market after 7 years. That transaction included two bonds of $1bn each with particular maturity and mark up.

These included $1bn bond of five-year maturity and 7.5 % interest rate and $1bn of 10-year maturity and 8.5pc return. Informed sources said the finance-minister was expecting improved market reaction and lower pricing on its second Eurobond launch in perspective of better economic indicators and improved credit rating/score.

Published on Dawn, September 23rd , 2015

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Telenor 3G Subscribers Crossed 5 Million Mark

Telenor Pakistan yesterday declared that its 3G subscriber crossed 5 million mark, it is the biggest amount among all telecom operator of Pakistan.

During a media briefing by company likewise launched three very cheap 3G phones, writers were briefed that Telenor Pakistan keeps on keeping up its leadership as the quickest growing 3G network in Pakistan with more than 5 million subscribers.

SEE ALSO: TelenorInternet Packages Daily, Weekly and Monthly at Low Rate

As per Telenor its 3G services came to more than 221 cities and town crosswise over Pakistan and that its market share of 3G subscribers is at 32%.

During the current business rollout of 3G services, TelenorPakistan powered different country areas with 3G services wherein even fundamental mobile or landline telephonic services were not accessible.

Company likewise expressed that two third of its tower (5,107 of its mobile sites) have been changed over into 3G.

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Moit Decided to Abolish ICH and APC

Latest Information Technology News in Pakistan: - Chairman Pakistan Telecom Authority, Dr. Ismail Shah said government has decided to APC, which was the main cause of gray traffic abolished.

He said that they hope that with this step on foreign exchange and illegal trade from abroad to Pakistan were to save. He said that TelecoAlert.com Ministry of Information Technology and Telecom has issued a policy directive after getting recommendation Telecommunications Authority. He said that Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif M. wants to eliminate gray traffic and wants to fix APC set to zero. As par the International Clearing House Agreement, the rate at the moment is 2.9, which has now been abolished. Chairman PTA said that it is a major step by the Government of Pakistan to abolish the gray traffic.

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