Search Results for: Pakistan

BY POORNA RODRIGO, IN LONDON

Demolition prices for older ships have fallen by a quarter in 2012, signaling a "historical drop" shipbroking, chartering and sale major Braemar Seascope’s research director told Steel First. He urged ship owners to scrap elderly candidates immediately and claim its "end of life bonus" as freight market would remain weak over the next two years.…

BY KEITH NUTHALL

THE CHAIRMAN of the Pakistan Pharmaceutical Manufacturers’ Association (PPMA) wants his government to pull back from allowing Indian medicine exporters to sell India-approved medicines in Pakistan from January 2013. Muhammad Asad told Pakistani journalists he feared his members would suffer from India being given ‘most favoured nation’ status under world trade law next year – a step agreed by Pakistan’s cabinet in December.…

BY RAHIMULLAH YUSUFAI

AFTER a decade of boom in property prices, a downslide is visible in anticipation of the withdrawal of US-led NATO forces from Afghanistan by 2014 and the consequent decrease in international aid; roughly 97% of the war-ravaged country’s gross domestic product according to the World Bank.…

BY RAHIMULLAH YUSUFZAI, IN PESHAWAR

THE PAKISTAN government has shied away from selling off Pakistan Steel Mills (PSM) in its latest privatisation announcement, with court proceedings and opposition within the company deterring a sale. PSM was not among the 23 public sector banks, insurance firms, electricity supply companies, postal services, hotels, railways, and other concerns listed for inclusion by the government’s Privatisation Commission in a new round of sell-offs beginning in April.…

BY RAHIMULLAH YUSUFZAI, IN PESHAWAR

PAKISTAN Steel Mills (PSM) has started stabilising its production after receiving 55,000 metric tonnes of coal from Australia and could make further improvements if it regularly received raw material, a spokesman for the country’s sole mega steel facility said.…

DESPITE the killing of Osama bin Laden in Pakistan last May, Al Qaeda and its affiliated groups remain a global money laundering and terrorist financing concern. Yet a decade on from the September 11 attacks, counterterrorism specialists say there has been too much focus on Al Qaeda itself (it means The Base in Arabic) but not enough on associated and other militant groups that pose significant threats.…

BY RAHIMULLAH YUSUFZAI, IN PESHAWAR

WHILE Pakistan may suffer from political instability, its paint industry has been registering an average 6%-8% annual growth rate over the past decade due to the country’s expanding automotive and construction sectors. That these key customers are doing well is fortunate, given the fact that the country’s GDP growth in 2010-1 was 2.4% and has been forecast to grow at 3.5%-4.5% only in 2011-12.…

BY RAHIMULLAH YUSUFZAI, IN PESHAWAR

PAKISTAN’S struggling clothing and textile industry, which generates 65% of the country’s total national foreign exchange earnings, is anticipating a significant boost to export sales following the recent World Trade Organisation (WTO) decision to approve waiver allowing 75 Pakistani products duty-free access to European Union (EU) markets for two years.…

BY MJ DESCHAMPS AND LENA SMIRNOVA

AFTER 18 years of negotiations, Russia has finally gained approval to join the World Trade Organisation (WTO), a key diplomatic move that could have profound consequences for the country’s textile market and industry.

A ministerial meeting of the WTO in Geneva anointed Russian accession on December 16, making the country the WTO’s 155th member.…

BY LEAH GERMAIN

THE PAKISTAN-BASED Tethyan Copper Company (TCC) is moving forward with their legal proceedings with a Pakistan province following the denial of a mining lease and application. TCC, a joint venture project between Chilean copper producer, Antofagasta and Canada’s Barrick Gold, claims that the provincial government of Baluchistan unlawfully rejected its application to mine the massive Reko Diq project in Chagai Hills of southwest Pakistan.…