January 13, 2022 – Page 2 – Madagascar Newswire

January 13, 2022

Supplementary Finance Bill to be passed today: Dr Babar Awan

Islamabad, January 13, 2022 (PPI-OT):Advisor on Parliamentary Affairs Dr Babar Awan says the Finance Supplementary Bill will be passed in the National Assembly today (Thursday). Talking to the media along with Spokesperson for Finance Ministry Muzammil Aslam in Islamabad today (Thursday), he said the government will table 64-point agenda in the National Assembly regarding effective legislation.

The Advisor said the government will re-organize Municipal Corporation of Islamabad and 104 councils will be established in the federal capital. He said Mayor of Islamabad will be elected directly while there will be six seats for professionals in the mayor’s cabinet.

He said the entire world is appreciating the strategy adopted by Pakistan to deal with the global pandemic protecting the economy and human lives. Talking about announcement of long march by the opposition, he said the government will complete its constitutional tenure and next general elections will be held through Electronic Voting Machines.

In his remarks the Spokesperson of Finance Ministry said the government is going to introduce several reforms in the budget through Finance Supplementary Bill. He said steps have been taken to enhance tax net and stop tax evasion. He said tax collection target during this fiscal year is 6100 billion rupees.

For more information, contact:
Ministry of Information and Broadcasting
Government of Pakistan
4th Floor, Cabinet Block, Pak. Secretariat, Islamabad, Pakistan
Tel: +92-51-9103557
Email: info@moib.gov.pk
Website: http://www.moib.gov.pk

January 13, 2022

Fakhar Imam reaffirms to work with international community to address food security

Islamabad, January 13, 2022 (PPI-OT):Minister for National Food Security and Research Syed Fakhar Imam has reaffirmed that Pakistan is ready to work with international community to promote more ambitious collective actions to address the problem of food security in the world.

He was virtually addressing the seventh D-8 Agricultural Ministerial Meeting on Agriculture and Food Security: Promoting Climate Smart Agriculture on Thursday. The Minister said this conference has provided us a platform to make a commitment to eradicate poverty, end hunger, combat climate change, and address the challenge of reducing food loss and waste.

He said climate change has become the most significant challenge to achieve sustainable development goals and it threatens to drag millions of people into never-ending poverty food insecurity. The Minister underlined the need to transform agriculture sector to such a vibrant and resilient scale where it can withstand the impacts of climate change and protect the livelihoods of dependent farming communities and agro-industries. He said due to the excellent agricultural policies of the government; despite COVID pandemic, the production of wheat, rice, maize, sugarcane, potato, onion and groundnut has increased to a record level.

January 13, 2022

Science, Technology and Innovation Policy to create economic activities across country: Shibli

Islamabad, January 13, 2022 (PPI-OT):Minister for Science and Technology, Shibli Faraz has said that first-ever National Science, Technology and Innovation Policy would not only bring revolution in the field of science and technology but also create economic activity in the whole country. Talking to the APP, he said that this policy will help encourage technology driven economy through engaging industry, academia and the government.

January 13, 2022

Info Group officers assigned important task of projecting national narrative: Secretary

Islamabad, January 13, 2022 (PPI-OT):Secretary Information and Broadcasting Shahera Shahid says the officers belonging to the Information Group were assigned the most important task of projection of national narrative. She was addressing the graduation ceremony of the Domain-Specific Training Programme of 32nd MCMC at Information Service Academy Islamabad.

She said that the officers of the Information group have to update their knowledge on daily basis as they have to deal with various situations every passing day. She said that training and capacity building is vital for officers as they added to their knowledge and gave them options to address various issues during service.

January 13, 2022

PTI taking measures to resolve people’s problems: Khattak

Islamabad, January 13, 2022 (PPI-OT):Minister for Defence Pervez Khattak says that the opposition parties are afraid of the popularity of PTI among masses and therefore, spreading propaganda against the party and its leadership.

Talking to media in Nowshera, he said masses have rejected opposition parties in the local government elections in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa where PTI got more seats than any other political party. He, however, said that PTI would participate in the second phase of LG polls with more vigour.

Pervez Khattak said the PTI, under the leadership of Prime Minister Imran Khan, is taking pragmatic measures to resolve the issues of common man besides putting the country on a path of development and prosperity.

January 13, 2022

P-5 Joint Statement on Preventing Nuclear War, Avoiding Arms Races a positive development: Foreign Office

Islamabad, January 13, 2022 (PPI-OT):Pakistan has welcomed the Joint Statement by the P-5 on Preventing Nuclear War and Avoiding Arms Races. In response to media queries on the joint statement, Foreign Office Spokesperson Asim Iftikhar said it is a positive development. He said this understanding among the permanent members of the UN Security Council can pave the way for concrete measures for strategic stability at the global and regional levels.

He said the P-5 statement rightly acknowledges the imperative of creating conducive security environment for meaningful progress on nuclear disarmament. This will include addressing the underlying security concerns of states, pacific settlement of outstanding disputes, and cessation of destabilizing arms build ups that accentuate asymmetries.

In the context of South Asia, the Spokesperson said Pakistan’s proposal for a Strategic Restraint Regime, encompassing nuclear and missile restraint, conventional balance and settlement of disputes, can contribute significantly towards maintaining strategic stability and avoiding military conflict. He said Pakistan fully agrees with the need for effective measures by all nuclear powers to guard against any unauthorized or unintended use of nuclear weapons.

January 13, 2022

Pakistan Bait-ul-Mal extends support to the earthquake victims of Gilgit-Baltistan

Islamabad, January 13, 2022 (PPI-OT):Pakistan Bait-ul-Mal (PBM) extends support to the earthquake victims of Gilgit-Baltistan. Governor GB Raja Jalal Hussain Maqpoon and Managing Director PBM, Malik Zaheer Abbas Khokhar visited district Roundup and other earthquake affected areas of Gilgit-Baltistan and presented financial assistance cheques to them.

Governor GB expressed his determination for taking every possible measure to rehabilitate the victim families. On the occasion, Managing Director PBM, Malik Zaheer Abbas Khokhar said the financial assistance is being provided to the doorstep of the earthquake affected families, following the directions of the Prime Minister.

As many as 100 earthquake victims were provided Financial Assistance from PBM; Rs.50,000/- were provided to the each family to re-build their houses, injured persons were provided Rs.30,000/- each and the family of a deceased person was given Rs.100,000/- financial support. Further, wheel chairs and elbow crutches were also presented to the persons with disabilities.

For more information, contact:
Principal Information Officer,
Press Information Department (PID)
Tel: +92-51-9252323, +92-51-9252324
Fax: +92-51-9252325, +92-51-9252326
Email: piopid@gmail.com
Website: www.pid.gov.pk

January 13, 2022

Federal Minister Syed Fakhar Imam addressed the seventh D-8 Agricultural Ministerial Meeting on “Agriculture and Food Security: Promoting Climate Smart Agriculture”

Islamabad, January 13, 2022 (PPI-OT):Federal Minister of National Food Security and Research Syed Fakhar Imam addressed the seventh D-8 Agricultural Ministerial Meeting on “Agriculture and Food Security: Promoting Climate Smart Agriculture” (13th January, 2022).

It was attended Ministers of Agriculture/Live Stocks/ Rural Development and Heads of Delegation of the People’s Republic of Bangladesh, Arab Republic of Egypt, Republic of Indonesia, Islamic Republic of Iran, Malaysia, Federal Republic of Nigeria, Islamic Republic of Pakistan, and the Republic of Turkey.

Federal Minister for National Food and Security Syed Fakhar Imam said that this conference has provided us a platform, where we can make commitment to eradicate poverty, end hunger, combat climate change, and address the challenge of reducing food loss and waste. I would like to appreciate the organizers for raising global awareness on the issue of food loss and waste.

Fakhar said that climate change has become the most significant challenge to achieve sustainable development goals and it threatens to drag millions of people into never-ending poverty food insecurity.

He continued and said that Agriculture is the foundation of food security in the developing World. It not only provides essential food for human consumption and feed for livestock but also provides raw materials for industry and value-added products for both domestic consumption and international markets.

Minister said that there is a need to transform agriculture sector to such a vibrant and resilient scale where it can withstand the impacts of climate change and protect the livelihoods of dependent farming communities and agro-industries and its contributions to the global greenhouse gas emissions are at the minimum possible levels.

Imam said that MNFS and R through Pakistan Agricultural Research Council (PARC) has done some pioneer work regarding research and development of Climate Smart Agriculture (CSA). I would therefore urge that PARC along with suitable organizations from other countries should be made part of this initiative right from the planning stage.

Federal Minister said that due to the excellent agricultural policies of the government; despite COVID pandemic, the production of wheat, rice, maize, sugarcane, potato, onion and groundnut has increased to a record level.

This year has been remarkable for agriculture sector of Pakistan, and our economy got a boost with the record agricultural production, indicating a lesser reliance on food imports in 2021-22. Additionally, due to our favourable policies and interventions, the exports of agro-commodities have also increased significantly, including mango by 28.6%, citrus 31.25% and potatoes 28%.

Fakhar said that he was very pleased to know that the D-8 Secretariat has taken this initiative at the right time. I am also hopeful that this program and planned actions will be a helpful for sustainable agricultural development and food security in D-8 countries. He reaffirmed that Pakistan is ready to work with international community to promote more ambitious collective actions to address the problem of food security in the world.