Efforts underway to achievesufficiency in teaproduction, NA toldIslamabad: Minister for Information

and Broadcasting Qamar Zaman Kaira on

Wednesday informed the National

Assembly (NA) that efforts were

underway to make the country self

sufficient in tea production like other

commodities. In response to various

questions during the question hour, the

minister said consumption of tea in the

country had increased manifold with

population growth and the government

was also spending huge amounts on tea

import similar to curd oil and petroleum

products. He said Research and

Introduction of Tea in Pakistan project

was initiated in 1973-74, aimed at

carrying out systemic research and

studies on cultivation of tea in the

country. The minister said NTRI had

established tea nurseries at Shinkiari,

Battagram, Swat and AJK. APP

01

BUSINESS

BThursday, 28 February, 2013

Consumption of tea in the country has

increased manifold with population

growth. — Information Minister Qamar Zaman

Will knock on IMF’sdoor again, if needbe: Mandviwala

Islamabad: Finance Minister Saleem

H Mandviwala expressed confidence

that Pakistan would not default on its

debts but added that the country will

go for a new IMF programme if need

be. While addressing a news

conference in Islamabad on

Wednesday, the finance minister also

said the Election Commission of

Pakistan (ECP) has demanded Rs 5.9

billion for conducting general elections,

adding that Rs 2 billion have already

been released in this regard.

Responding to a question, he said

budget preparation is underway.

Mandviwala said the current year’s

target for remittances was proposed at

$14.5 billion but he thought the actual

figure would turn out to be on the

lower side and a revised target would

be submitted next week.

He said a dollar bond scheme is being

prepared and efforts are being made to

streamline the working and

performance of the Federal Board of

Revenue (FBR). PPi

KaRaCHIiSMAil DilAWAR

IF lack of quorum on the board ofdirectors is any criteria the StateBank of Pakistan (SBP) wouldstand tall among the country’smost ill-governed institutions.“State Bank of Pakistan is gov-erned by an independent Board

of Directors, which is responsible for thegeneral superintendence and direction ofthe affairs of the Bank,” read the officialdocuments.

However, it has been years that theSBP has seen all of these independent di-rectors, whose number has been increasedfrom seven to eight under March 2012’samendment in the SBP Act, officiating atthe Board in full strength.

Wednesday saw the federal govern-ment appointing five new non-executivedirectors for a three-year term which isextendable for another three year period.Those incorporate in the SBP’s centralboard include Mehmood Mandviwalla,Shahid Ahmed Khan, Nawaz Tiwana,Iskander Khan and Iqbal Hasan.

The new appointments would takeimmediate effect, said a notification is-sued by the Finance Division which de-spite taking years again left two seatsvacant on the SBP board.

According to SBP website, before

Wednesday Mirza Qamar Beg was theonly non-executive director on SBP’s cen-tral board besides the ex-officio chairman,Governor Yaseen Anwar and Acting Sec-retary Finance Division Abdul Khaliq.

Sahar Z. Babar also has been on theboard as a corporate secretary who is re-sponsible for strategic planning, businesscontinuity planning and maintaining over-sight on the annual business planningfunction of the bank.

The much-awaited appointments weremade in place of Zaffar A. Khan, MohsinAziz, Waqar A Malik, Tariq Sehgal, Kam-ran Y Mirza and Asad Umer. According toofficial sources, of the above directorsonly Umer had resigned and that too last

year in May when he joined PakistanTehreek-i-Insaaf. “Umer had to resign be-cause no political leader can officiate onSBP’s central board,” said a centralbanker.

Mirza’s tenure had completed twoyears back in fiscal year 2010-11.

“During the year 2010-11 (FY11), Mr.Kamran Y. Mirza completed his tenure asDirector Central Board, and nominationsagainst the positions vacated by him andprevious two vacant positions are in theprocess of being decided by the federalgovernment,” says the SBP under the headof its “Governance Structure”.

When contacted Federal FinanceMinister Salim H. Mandviwala declined

to comment on the years long delay by hispredecessors to appoint new directors tothe SBP board.

“I don’t want to say anything aboutthe past,” the finance minister told Pak-istan Today.

Mandviwala, however, said the twoseats which are still lying vacant would befilled by “next week”.

Ideally, SBP’s central board shouldhave 10 members: the governor as itschairman, secretary finance division, andeight non-executive directors that includeat least one from each province, who shallbe eminent professionals from the fieldsof economics, finance, banking and ac-countancy.

Lack of quorum on CentralBoard puts governance in question at SBP

SBP’s central boardshould have 10 members:

the governor as itschairman, secretaryfinance division, andeight non-executive

directors that include atleast one from each

province, who shall beeminent professionals

from the fields ofeconomics, finance,

banking and accountancy

dubaI Online

Pakistani exporters can easily doubletheir food exports to the United ArabEmirates (UAE) from a present $ 500million to $ 1 billion because the Gulfcountry needs all kinds of edibles,ranging from fresh vegetables to meatto frozen food, Pakistan’s Ambassadorto the UAE Jamil Ahmed Khan said.

Around 30 exhibitors are represent-ing the country at the food exhibition inUAE. Out of these, 23 companies areparticipating under the banner of theTrade Development Authority of Pak-istan (TDAP), which promotes tradeand investment for the country.

“Last year, our exhibitors got rea-

sonably good orders and that’s whywe reached a level of almost $ 500million exports to the UAE,” Khansaid during his visit to Pakistan’spavilion at the exhibition.

“We feel our exporters have muchlarger potential and that could takethem from the current level of $ 500million to $ 1 billion easily becausethis country imports food items worthmore than 5 billion,” he added.

Business Monitor International(BMI) predicted that there will be a 5.3percent increase in food consumptionthis year in the UAE. However, totalfood consumption of the country is ex-pected to increase at a compound an-nual rate of 6.2 percent to reach a valueof 37.5 billion dhirams in 2017, BMI

added. According to estimates, Gulfcountries import more than 250,000tonnes of meat, with 100,000 tonnes ofthis being imported from Australiaalone. So there is a large scope for Pak-istan to increase exports to the UAEand other GCC nations, Khan said.

“Our exporters can take the advan-tage of being one of the closest coun-tries,” he added. The ambassador saidPakistan’s foodstuff exports to GCCcountries already touched the level of$ 1 billion in 2012. He said there istough competition in the market, soPakistani exporters should update theirmachinery and packaging to maketheir products competitive. On-timedelivery is also very important in ad-dition to other things, he added.

Among foodstuff, poultry products isone of the important import items tothe UAE as the country is expected toimport around 120,000 tonnes poultryproducts this year, compared to around79,000 tonnes in 2008, he said.

More importantly, food security isone of the top agendas of GCC leadersand because of that, the demand forfood items will continue to rise in theregion, Khan added.

Another area of interest, he said,is in re-export. The UAE is the re-gion’s top and most important marketin terms of re-exports. “Whatever isimported in this country, 65 percent ofit is re-exported. I believe there wouldbe potential for our people in this seg-ment,” Khan added.

IslamabadStAff RePORt

The Competition Commission of Pakistan (CCP)prepared a guidelines report to provideguidance on what may constitute as‘deceptive marketing’ with respect toSection 10 of the Competition Act,2010 for those providing telecom-munication products and servicesin Pakistan.

This effort by the commissionis aimed at avoiding actions thatmay amount to violating section 10and other provisions of the act.

The draft guidelines have beenshared with the Pakistan Telecommunica-tion Authority (PTA), all telecom companies, andplaced on the commission’s website for soliciting feed-back and suggestions from stakeholders. These guide-lines are meant for telecommunication companies tofollow in their sales, marketing, advertising, and com-munication, in all forms and across all mediums-onlineand on point of sale. Companies have been advised tobear in mind the legal implications that may arise outof certain practices dealing with distribution of false

information, deception, fine print, disclaimer and qual-ifications, importance of substantiation of claims, es-sential terms and conditions, omissions, puffery, price

disclosure, comparative advertising, promotionalcontents and, telemarketing.

The draft guidelines present the ap-proach taken by the commission in

its decisions regarding deceptivemarketing practices and the ap-proach that it may take towardscertain marketing practices bytelecommunication serviceproviders. However, the guide-

lines are not exhaustive and the ap-proach of the commission shall

depend upon the particular facts andcircumstances of each case. Because it is

not possible to predict future behaviour of thecompanies involved in the telecommunication sector,the commission will not, in any way, be restricted tolook into matters that have not been mentioned inthese guidelines. Guidelines have been prepared inlight of best international practices. The principlescontained in the guidelines will be applied and furtherdeveloped and refined by the commission from timeto time depending on individual cases.

ISLAMABAD: Fish and fishpreparations exports from thecountry during the lastseven months of the cur-rent financial year (FY)recorded a growth of3.43 percent as com-pared to the same periodof last year. During the pe-riod from July-January,2012-13, the country earned $180.20 million by exporting about 81,324 metric tonnesof fish and fish products which were recorded at 15,277metric tonnes worth $ 174.23 million in the same periodof last year. On a month-on-month basis, about 10,202metric tonnes of fish worth $ 23.34 million were exportedduring the month of January, 2013 as against 13,487 met-ric tonnes valuing $ 30.52 million in the month of De-cember, 2012. On the other hand the export of fish and itsproducts witnessed a 9.33 percent increase on a year-on-year basis and was recorded at 10,350 metric tonnesworth $ 21.34 million during the month of January 2012.Meanwhile, the exports of meat and meat preparations in-creased by 41.49 percent during the first seven months ofthe current financial year as about 40,403 metric tonnes ofmeat and its products worth $ 135.83 million were ex-ported. The meat and meat products exports wererecorded at 31,197 metric tonnes costing $ 96.006 millionfrom the period July-January, 2011-12. As compared tothe month of January, 2012 the meat and meat prepara-tions exports posted a growth of 31.88 percent during themonth of January, 2013 and $ 15.84 million against$12.01 million of same month last financial year. APP

Fish, meatexports rise by3.43%, 41.49%

EU lifts ban on Pakistani fishexports: commerce secyIslamabad: The European Union has lifted a ban

on Pakistan’s fish exports around seven years after it

was imposed, Commerce Secretary Munir Qureshi

said on Wednesday. Qureshi said two fish companies

from Pakistan were allowed exports to European

countries. He said exports would start from March 12.

A ban was imposed on the country’s fish exports to

EU in April 2007 because of poor hygienic conditions.

With the ban, Pakistan had been losing at least $50

million worth market share per year. Online

CCP drafts marketing guidelinesfor telecom companies

Pakistan hopes for $1b exports to UAE

PRO 28-02-2013_Layout 1 2/28/2013 2:54 AM Page 1

BUSINESSThursday, 28 February, 2013

PTCL organises seminaron ‘Prevention andAwareness of Hepatitis’Islamabad: Pakistan TelecommunicationsCompany Limited (PTCL) organized a seminar on‘Prevention and Awareness of Hepatitis’ at a localschool in Karachi as part of the company’sCorporate Social Responsibility (CSR) initiatives.PTCL is organizing a nation-wide drive to createawareness about Hepatitis and its preventivemeasures. Dr Tariq Saeed of PTCL Medical Serviceswhile giving information to students said, “Hepatitisis growing at an ever alarming rate now, withwomen and children at an increasing risk.” “Morethan 12 million Pakistanis are infected withhepatitis due to frequent use of therapeuticinjections, re-use of syringes, inappropriatesterilization practices and poor hospital wastemanagement,” Dr Tariq said. “At the communityand individual level, certain behavioral practicesincrease the risk of these infections substantiallyand it is the responsibility of every single one of usto confront this disease,” Dr Tariq added. SyedMazhar Hussain, PTCL Senior Executive VicePresident (SEVP) HR commented, “PTCL believes inempowering the youth of the country and thecurrent drive is a continuation of this vision. Thecompany believes in conducting its business in amanner where it is positively contributing towardsthe growth and development of the society.” nni

Khushhalibank opens sixnew branches in PunjabIslamabad: Khushhalibank Limited, the firstlicensed microfinance bank in Pakistan expanded its

network by opening six new branches in the Punjabregion during the month of February 2013. Thesebranches were opened in Minchanabad, Chiniot,Muzaffargarh, Fort Abbas, Alipur and Sadiqabad.Speaking on the occasion, Ghalib Nishtar, PresidentKhushhalibank, said that “The idea of Microfinanceis fast catching up across low income marketsegments. Motivated by success stories in theirclose neighbourhoods more and more people areattracted towards improving livelihood opportunitiesthrough access to microfinance institutions. nni

Flitz launches AyeshaSomaya Lawn 2013

KaRaCHI: Flitz was launched in 2007 and hasbeen operating under the supervision of gifted anddynamic professionals since. Flitz, continuouslystrive for excellence through research, innovationand contemporary design along with precise qualitycontrol. Having financial and technical resources atcommand and with the aid of incomparablecapabilities of experts, the group has acquired theexperience and expertise in the field of designerLawn, prêt wear, and footwear. Flitz after havingsuccessfully launched “Nadia Hussain’s SignatureLawn Collection 2011 and 2012”, this year launched“Ayesha-Somaya designer Lawn Collection 2013”.Ayesha Sohail and Somaya Adnan the extremelyversatile duo got together in the year 2009 and

have only created magic since then. “Theirsignature is a combination of detail, luxury andtailoring. They strongly believe when it comes tofashion, its not just about smart clothing but it’s allabout grooming your personality as a whole. Theirwork constantly evolves within an aesthetic whichis sophisticated both in the Eastern and Westernsense. Ayesha Somaya lawn prints 2013 are abeautiful amalgamation of fine fabric, pretty colorcombinations and intricate embroideries, thecombination of coordinating borders, embroideryappliqués, jewelled necklines and contrasting innerlinings are the value additions to the lawn joraswhich gives them a custom made designer look.The Ayesha Somaya lawn was launched with anevent featuring a FLASH MOB performance byZARMEENA&BREAKHNA DANCE GROUP. The eventwhich was largely attended by media, showbiz andfashion celebrities also saw Ayesha Somaya’s brandambassador drama actress Momal Sheikh walk theramp at the end of the flash mob performance. PR

English Channel gets on air

KaRaCHI: After a successful launch of PTV SportsChannel, Pakistan Television reached crossedanother milestone by virtue of the launch of PTVWorld (English Channel). It is indeed the sole andentire efforts of the Managing Director, Mr. YousufBaig Mirza and his visionary team. The EnglishChannel was, recently, inaugurated by thePresident of Pakistan Mr. Asif Ali Zardari at acolourful ceremony. As a matter of fact, KarachiCentre is also contributing to this channel with avariety of programs for the various viewers fromdifferent walks of life. This programs packageincludes diversified program from Politics,Economic, Cultural and Entertainment fields. Thetalk show titled “Perspective” is a program in whichguests, from all over the country as well as abroad,are invited to share their views. So far thedistinguished personalities like Danielle Gehrmann(Australia), Fajcsak (Hungry), Mr. Naeem Bukhari,Dr. Z. S. U., Mr. N.N. A., Mrs. Arssalna Javed, Mrs.Maheen, Ms. Nida Saleem, Ms. Samra Muslim, Mr.Yousuf Khan, Syed Javed Iabal, Mr. Tahir A. Khan,

Mr. Nadeem Ansari, Mr. Haider Waheed (TV Host),Barrister Shahida Jameel, Ms. Saima Baig, Mr.Ather Usama and Mr. Hussain Ather have gracedthe show with their presence. The host of thisprogram is Mr. Faisal Qureshi, whereas Producer isMuhammad Shakeel Ahmed while the ExecutiveProducer is Mrs. Rukhsana Lotia. This program,possessing 50 minutes duration, will be telecast livefour days a week, at 09.05 p.m.The othersignificant addition is “Unwind with Sohail Hashmi”and is scheduled to be put on air every Friday &Saturday night at 11.05 p.m. Mr. Sohail Hashmi isthe host of this entertainment program while Mr.Shamoon Abbasi, Ms. Sabahat Bukhari, Ms. SaniaSaeed and Mr. Azfer Ali are amongst the guestswho have participated so far in it. PR

laHORE: NbP Exchange Company limited, a

fully owned subsidiary of National bank of

Pakistan, opened its 14th branch at Cavalry

Ground to facilitate its customers especially of

the home remittances in line with the national

objective. Khalid bin shaheen sEVP/Group

Chief NbP and Chairman NbP Exchange

Company limited is seen inaugurating the

branch along with executives of NbP and NbP

Exchange Co. PR

NESPAK gets $ 500mBakhshabad Dam ProjectlaHORE: NESPAK, a State organization ofConsulting Engineers, has achieved a breakthroughby securing a dam project in Afghanistan. Accordingto a press release issued here on Wednesday,NESPAK is the first Pakistani firm, which will designthe dam on the Farah River in Bakhshabad. Thecontract agreement of the project was signed by therepresentatives of the Ministry of Water and Energy,Government of Afghanistan and NESPAK the otherday. The US$ 500 million Bakhshabad (Farah Rud)Dam Project consists of a dam, a powerhouse,appurtenant structures, a barrage 60 Kmdownstream of the dam, left and right main irrigationcanals and irrigation command area. NESPAK willprovide services for detailed design, tender drawingsand preparation of bidding documents. PR

CORPORATE CORNER

02

B

Pakistan has never faced bankruptcy in

the past nor would it in future. —

Finance Minister Saleem H Mandviwala

Major Gainers

COMPANY OPEN HIGH LOW CLOSE CHANGE TURNOVERMithchellsFruit 313.50 327.00 303.10 326.90 13.40 1,300Sunrays Textile 195.00 204.70 204.70 204.70 9.70 500Ismail Industr 154.34 161.00 161.00 161.00 6.66 500Engro Corporation 111.59 117.16 111.25 116.90 5.31 13,237,300Packages Ltd. 191.71 199.00 188.00 196.79 5.08 116,000

Major LosersNestle Pakistan Ltd. 5131.82 5001.00 5000.00 5000.00 -131.82 40UniLever Pak 10850.00 10800.00 10800.00 10800.00 -50.00 120Sapphire Fiber XD 183.20 183.00 174.05 174.05 -9.15 1,000Millat Tractors XDXB 535.39 533.50 527.10 528.55 -6.84 8,100National Foods 327.34 325.00 312.00 322.00 -5.34 3,200

Volume Leaders

Lafarge Pakistan 5.35 5.94 5.39 5.83 0.48 28,266,000Telecard Limited 7.42 8.00 6.92 7.40 -0.02 25,428,500P.I.A.C.(A) 4.32 5.32 4.95 5.32 1.00 15,366,000Maple Leaf Cement 18.34 18.92 17.99 18.28 -0.06 14,232,000Engro Corporation 111.59 117.16 111.25 116.90 5.31 13,237,300

Interbank RatesUSD PKR 98.1552GBP PKR 148.3322JPY PKR 1.0704EURO PKR 128.3576

ForexBUY SELL

US Dollar 99.10 99.35 Euro 129.22 129.43 Great Britain Pound 149.63 149.84 Japanese Yen 1.0726 1.0836 Canadian Dollar 95.51 97.20 Hong Kong Dollar 12.53 12.79 UAE Dirham 26.90 27.15 Saudi Riyal 26.35 26.55

KaRaCHI: service sales Corporation, Pakistan’s leading footwear retailer, in partnership with

the british Council conducted teacher training workshops under its platform “servis Fun and

learn”. The objective was to train English language teachers from both public and private

schools on how to use interactive learning approaches in classrooms. The workshops were led

by experienced british Council Pakistan trainers. more than 60 teachers from each city (lahore,

Karachi and Islamabad) attended this work shop. an online competition was also announced,

which will run till the 15th of march. PR

Samsung unveils B2B and e-Learning solutionslaHORE: Samsung Electronics Co. Ltd., a global leader in digital media and convergence technologies,unveiled numerous innovative products at the Samsung Middle East and North Africa (MENA) Forum 2013at the Grand Hyatt Hotel in Dubai recently. Samsung has transformed the B2B market for the new era of e-learning or smart-education. There is much interest and investment in the e-learning sector fromgovernments around the world, seeking to deliver Smart-Education to the masses. Samsung is inspiringfurther investment in this sector by introducing digital Smart-Education solutions and experiences toschools throughout the MENA region. This revolutionary e-learning solution equips classrooms with easy-to-use, immersive technologies, such as Note PCs, e-boards and mobile connectivity devices, whereby morethan 6,000 online textbooks are available via an open-market digital content platform. PReSS ReleASe

Islamabad,APP

PAKISTAN’S exports to Malaysia have risenby 6.15 percent according to trade figuresavailable for the period January-October 2012.Statistics from January till October, 2012, de-pict Pakistan has exported goods worth

$232.81 million to Malaysia, registering a growth of6.15 percent or $13.48 million over the $219.33 millionexports in the corresponding period last year.

During both years, rice stood as the highest con-tributor and a major export to Malaysia, contributingto 25 percent ($54.08 million) of the total exports in2011 and 29 per cent ($66.51 million) of the total ex-ports in 2012, a press release issued by the PakistanHigh Commission in Kuala Lumpur said.

From January to October 2012, the export of bed-linen increased by 13.96 per cent ($0.62 million),electrical appliances by 76.15 percent ($1.42 million),rice by 22.97 percent ($12.42 million), potatoes by

164.14 per cent ($3.15 million), maize by 58.88 per-cent ($14.36 million) and fish by 21.94 percent ($2.19million). However, the exports of onion decreased by94.93 percent ($15.68 million), cotton yarn by 28.73per cent ($5.03 million), parts and accessories by27.95 percent ($0.35 million) and woven fabrics by6.47 percent ($0.27 million) in the same period.

Pakistan exports a number of goods to Malaysia,including fish, potatoes, onion, rice, maize, cottonyarn, woven fabrics and synthetic staple fibre, bed-linen, electrical apparatus for line telephony and partsand accessories. Pakistan also imports palm oil, elec-trical and electronic equipment, machinery, chemicals,rubber, wood, synthetic filament yarn, insecticides, au-tomatic data processing machines and parts and acces-sories from Malaysia. However, the overall importsfrom Malaysia to Pakistan have decreased from $2.12billion to $1.6 billion by 24.58 percent.

Palm oil was the major import from Malaysia inboth years, standing at $1.65 billion in 2011 and $1.12billion in 2012.

Govt sufferingRs 1b loss dailyon electricity

IslamabadinP

Failure to introduce reforms in thepower sector has caused the nationalexchequer to suffer a daily loss of onebillion rupees owing to power theft andline losses, while the circular debt isconstantly on the increase. Accordingto reports, the government hadallocated Rs 170 billion in the budgetfor power sector to provide relief to thepoor and middle classes. However theFinance Ministry has made payment ofRs 225 billion in the first seven monthsof the year, which is Rs 55 billion morethan the allocations for the whole year.The government had assured the IMF,World Bank, Asian Development Bankand other institutions to bring reformsin the power sector by improving thedistribution system, reducing linelosses and preventing theft ofelectricity. However sources said thegovernment has so far failed to take therequired steps and it is feared that thesubsidy in power sector would reach Rs365 billion by the end of the year.

Pakistan exports toMalaysia grow by 6.15%

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