Saturday, 22 December, 2012

KARACHI

STAFF REPORT

The traders and businessmen living across theborder want the governments of India andPakistan to accelerate the opening process ofthe banks and trade related companies oneach other’s territory to give a sense of confi-dence to traders of the two countries.

“We would require presence of localbanks on both the sides to give requisite con-fidence to importers and exporters,” RafeequeAhmed Meccam, president Federation of In-dian Export Organizations (FIEO), told open-ing ceremony of the India Expo 2012 Friday.

Held here at Expo Centre by the FIEO incollaboration with Karachi Chamber of Com-merce and Industry (KCCI), the exhibitionwas attended among other by Siraj KassamTeli, chairman Businessmen Group and for-mer president KCCI, as a chief guest.

“I would take this opportunity to requestthe concerned agencies to expedite theprocess of opening of branches of Pakistanbanks in India and Indian banks in Pakistan,”he said. He said it was quite ironical that allSouth East Asian economies were strikingFTAs with nations across Pacific and Atlanticbut not amongst themselves.

Improved bilateral ties between India andPakistan would give the necessary oxygen toSouth Asia Free Trade Zone which wouldopen vistas of opportunities for countries ofthe region, he said.

The FIEO president said to enhanceIndo-Pak bilateral trade, India Expo 2012 wasonly beginning of a long journey betweenFIEO and KCCI. He said he would like to re-ciprocate to nice gesture of Pakistani side byextending similar privilege to them in India.

He apprised that FIEO was an apex trade

promotion body set up by the Ministry ofCommerce to promote international tradehaving more than 14 offices in India and or-ganizes more than 50 international exhibi-tions across the globe. FIEO board comprisesExport Promotion Councils and CommodityBoards and represents in various committeesof the Government in their decision making.

The FIEO president said India–Pakistanbilateral trade for the year 2011-12 was esti-mated at $ 2 billion. The balance of trade isfavourable for the Indian side with $ 1.54 bil-lion exports and imports at $ 400 million.

The recent official figure between April-October, 2012 places exports at $ 834 million,exhibiting a growth of about 1pc while importsduring the same period increased to $ 333million, showing a jump of 42pc from the cor-responding period in 2011.

“We are looking forward for narrowingtrade deficit with Pakistan,” he said adding“We are equally eager to increase our importsfor that healthy balance of trade result in win-win situation for both the countries.”

The President FIEO stressed upon theneed to diversify the trade from both the sides.India’s exports to Pakistan comprise 8-9major products which contribute approxi-mately 90% of the total export.

The main products exported from Indiato Pakistan are polymers, industrial chemi-cals, machinery, polyester fabric and yarn.Capital goods are the strength of India, andPakistan is importing it from other countries,India should exploit this opportunity.

Most of the items in India are expensivein comparison to Pakistan so cheaper itemscan be sourced from Pakistan to avoid expen-sive imports from other countries. Both coun-tries should try and explore to create synergiesand not get overly competitive.

He highlighted that the infrastructure is-sues are hindering the growth of the trade be-tween the two countries. The land route ismost competitive as carrying a containerthrough Wagah costs $ 391 while the samethrough Mumbai-Dubai-Karachi cost over $1000. “We need to provide better infrastruc-ture to facilitate trade through the closestroute,” he said.

He opined that multiple city and multipleentry visa regime would be introduced fromJanuary, 2013 which would be a big boost for

bilateral trade. Ajay Sahai, Director Generaland CEO of FIEO, proposed that India andPakistan should give preference to companiesin each other’s countries for exports and im-ports if products can be supplied at competi-tive prices.

For example sugar can be exported fromPakistan to India which would help in soften-ing sugar prices in the country while petro-leum exporters from India could reduce theprice of petroleum products in Pakistan by $14 per barrel giving a saving close to $ 2 billion

for its economy.On the occasion, Siraj Kassam Teli, chair-

man Businessmen Group and former presi-dent KCCI, stressed the need for creating newIndo-Pak trade synergies for regional eco-nomic integration.

Teli said once Indo-Pak business exe-cuted in a real sense, both the countries wouldbe not dependent on other countries for eco-nomic cooperation.

Indo-Pak trade nexus would also activateintra-SAARC trade.

ISLAMABAD

ONLINE

OIL and Gas DevelopmentCompany Limited (OGDCL)in joint venture with Govern-ment holding Pvt Ltd (GHPL)has discovered gas reservoirs

bearing zone from its well Zin SML-1 lo-cated in District Dera Bugti.

MD OGDCL Masood Siddique in-formed this to Dr. Asim Hussain Advisor tothe Prime Minister on Petroleum and Nat-ural Resources during a meeting here on

Friday. Dr. Asim Hussain while congratu-lating the OGDCL and GHPL said that theGovernment is providing substantial incen-tives to the oil and gas exploration compa-nies. He further said that successful roadshows were held in USA and UK to attractforeign oil and gas exploration companies.Dr. Asim Hussain emphasized on balanc-ing the current energy mix of Pakistan,which is heavily dependent on Natural Gas.It is worth mentioning that the Zin SML-Iwell was drilled down to depth of 1050 me-ters targeting to test the potential of SuiMain Limestone formation. The target

zone age has tested 8.05 MMSCFD gasthrough 128”/ 64” choke.

Advisor on Petroleum expressed con-fidence that this discovery will add to thehydrocarbon reserves base of the JointVenture Partners, brining significantearnings for the country. MD OGDCLbriefed Dr. Asim Hussain that prelimi-nary assessment shows an estimated re-serves in place of about 1.06 TCF, whichwould be confirmed by further appraisalwells. It is of low calorific value gas butwith the right technology, can be en-hanced to better quality gas.

‘We’ve carvedout a beauty!’g New petroleum policy touted to substantially facilitate investors

Oil prices dip onprofit-taking,fiscal cliff dealconcerns

SINGAPORE

AGENCIES

Oil prices fell in Asia on Friday, withtraders taking profits after a recentrally and as US politicians continue towrangle over a deal to avert the fiscalcliff, analysts said. New York’s maincontract, light sweet crude for deliveryin February fell 70 cents to $89.43 abarrel and Brent North Sea crude forFebruary dropped 45 cents to $109.75.“After a big rally in price over the lastfew days people are happy to exit andreap a form of profit while taking riskoff the table,” Jason Hughes, the headof premium client management at IGMarkets Singapore told AFP. “We arealso seeing a more cautious approachin Asia just in case US politiciansdon’t come to a resolution to avoid thefiscal cliff.” Crude prices rose earlierin the week on a sharper-than-expected fall in US crude inventoriesas lawmakers appeared to makeheadway on a deal to avert the hugetax hikes and spending cuts due totake effect at the start of January. Buttalks appeared to hit an impasse whentop Republican John Boehner pressedahead with a controversial “Plan B”that extends tax breaks for everyoneearning less than $1 million per year.US President Barack Obama, however,has said he is willing to go no higherthan $400,000. Boehner, who isSpeaker of the Republican-controlledHouse of Representatives, onThursday scrapped a vote on the planas he acknowledged that he did nothave sufficient support even fromwithin his own party.

Indo-Pak entrepreneurs banking on each otherBusinessmen on either side of the Indo-Pak border want opening of banks, firms to enhance trade

ISLAMABAD

AGENCIES

Pakistan State Oil (PSO) has recently signed a Con-tract of Affreightment (CoA) with the Pakistan Na-tional Corporation (PNSC) to transport furnace oilfrom foreign ports to Pakistan’s shores.

“Already this CoA is bearing fruit and expectedsavings in one year are estimated to be approximatelyUSD 25 million, which shall translate into savings ofUSD 125 million in five years time span,” said a PSOspokesperson in a statement.

She said that the PSO, being the nation’s largestenergy company, had already implemented the deci-

sions of the government in letter and spirit. “The PSO is proud to be the first national com-

pany to start bringing in imported POL productsthrough the Pakistan National Shipping Corporation(PNSC).”

This has been done in light of the directives of theEconomic Coordination Committee (ECC), whichclearly state that all government organizations shoulddesignate the national shipping line i.e. PNSC as theirshipping partner of choice, she added.

The spokesperson said that from March 2013, thecompany would start importing Motor Gasolinethrough PNSC on FOB basis, saving another USD 10million annually and in next five years estimated sav-

ings due to this arrangement were expected to beUSD 50 million.

The PSO’s partnership with the PNSC shall resultin total savings of approximately USD 175 millionover a time period of five years, she said.

She said this partnership between two nationalcompanies would not only save precious foreign ex-change as outlined above, but would also help in cre-ating employment opportunities in the oil shippingbusiness.

“Committed to providing quality products andcustomer services, the PSO, the national energygiant, remains committed to providing the best forthe public at large,” she observed.

PSO-PNSC partnership to help save$25 million annually

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02

Saturday, 22 December, 2012

Major Gainers

COMPANY OPEN HIGH LOW CLOSE CHANGE TURNOVERRafhan Maize Prod. 3850.00 4000.00 4000.00 4000.00 150.00 60Colgate Palmolive 1399.98 1469.45 1400.00 1469.45 69.47 6,200Unilever Food 4250.00 4300.00 4300.00 4300.00 50.00 20Bata (Pak) 1365.00 1399.00 1399.00 1399.00 34.00 50Mithchells Fruit 371.81 384.99 384.00 384.00 12.19 2,100

Major LosersPak.Int.Cont. SD 267.48 270.00 254.11 255.24 -12.24 6,800Exide (PAK) 300.00 297.90 290.01 290.01 -9.99 2,200Attock Petroleum Ltd 516.88 516.00 510.00 511.65 -5.23 24,600MCB Bank Ltd. 215.75 216.74 210.35 211.02 -4.73 349,800IGI Insurance 114.50 114.00 110.80 111.54 -2.96 64,500

Volume Leaders

TRG Pakistan Ltd. 5.03 5.98 5.26 5.77 0.74 36,142,000Dewan Cement 4.92 5.44 5.00 5.20 0.28 17,364,500Byco Petroleum 12.34 12.67 12.01 12.09 -0.25 12,897,500NIB Bank Limited 2.47 2.60 2.48 2.55 0.086,722,500Jah.Sidd. Co. 16.51 17.08 16.60 16.65 0.14 5,841,500

Interbank RatesUS Dollar 97.5156UK Pound 158.4141Japanese Yen 1.1599Euro 128.7108

Dollar EastBUY SELL

US Dollar 97.30 98.00Euro 127.58 129.04Great Britain Pound 56.85 158.60Japanese Yen 1.1462 1.1591Canadian Dollar 97.19 98.78Hong Kong Dollar 12.38 12.58UAE Dirham 26.43 26.70Saudi Riyal 25.89 26.15Australian Dollar 100.56 103.14

Business

HBL wins Best Fire SafetyPractices AwardKARACHI: Fire Safety Convention - 2012 was held recently inMarriott Hotel. The event was jointly organised by Fire ProtectionAssociation of Pakistan (FPAP) and National Forum forEnvironment & Health (NFEH). Karachi Chamber of Commerce andIndustries Chairman Haroon Agar was the chief guest for theinaugural session while Karachi Metropolitan CorporationAdministrator Muhammad Hussain Syed distributed the awards.Awards were given to 22 companies in various categories like OilCompanies, Airlines, Chemical Industry, Laboratories, Fire SafetyVendors, Power Generation Companies etc. Award for the year 2012for Best Fire Safety Practices in High Rise Buildings was given toHBL. This is the second time consecutively that HBL has won thisaward. PR

Emirates to add two moreflights to PeshawarKARACHI: With an already well established position in Pakistan,Emirates, one of the fastest growing international airlines, hasannounced an enhancement to its operations in the country. FromFebruary 1, 2013 the airline will operate an additional twofrequencies to its present three weekly flights to Peshawar to furtherfacilitate and assist its growing customer base in the northernregion of the country and add additional cargo capacity to the route.The introduction of the additional flights will increase the weeklynumber of services to five, and will raise the total number ofEmirates weekly flights to Pakistan to 56. The first additionalEmirates flight EK636 will depart from Dubai at 0225hrs everyWednesday and arrive in Peshawar at 0630hrs. The return journeyfrom Peshawar, EK637 will depart for Dubai at 0810hrs the sameday. The second additional flight will operate on every Friday fromDubai to Peshawar as flight EK 636 landing at 0800hrs. The returnflight, EK 637 will leave Peshawar at 0940hrs, arriving at 1205hrs inDubai. PR

NBP awarded ‘Gold Medal onCorporate Social Responsibility’

KARACHI: Pakistan President Asif Ali Zardari awarded Chairman& President NBP, Qamar Hussain “Gold Medal on Corporate SocialResponsibility” during the 36th FPCCI Export Trophy Awards at Gov-ernor Sindh House. This award is a top slot award and is given on thebasis of overall NBP contributions and donations for charitable, so-cial, educational and public welfare purposes. NBP’s mainly con-tributes in health, education, community development, disaster relief,women emancipation, infrastructure development, environment,water purification and sanitation, special children, sports and culture.This award is the highest in the jurisdiction Corporate Social Respon-sibility of the Federation of Pakistan Chambers of Commerce and In-dustry.

Shah Faisal nominated to KP BoI boardPESHAWAR: Shah Faisal, President and CEO of Ruba SEZ Group,has been nominated as member for Board of Investment of KhyberPakhtunkhwa government. It is indeed a great achievement and truereflection of Faisal’s contribution to Pakistan’s economy andIndustry. With the visionary and dynamic personality of Faisal, hewill add much more value to the board and will be one of the strongpillars. The KP chief minister will be the chairman of the board andIlyas Bilour has been nominated as vice chairman. PR

Wateen collaborates withPakistan Advertisers Society LAHORE: Wateen Telecom, Pakistan’s leading convergedcommunications provider, recently participated in the prestigiousDigital Marketing Conference 2012, held in Karachi on 18thDecember 2012. The DigIt conference was held under the auspicesof the Pakistan Advertisers’ Society as a platform to bring togetherPakistan’s marketing and advertising communities on the subject ofreinventing and reshaping marketing media. The conference, whichis EC-Pakistan’s 2ndDigital Marketing Conference, was held underthe theme of “Digital Marketing: Today, Tomorrow & Beyond” andwas specially designed to keep an eye on present and future digitalmarketing/social media trends, tools, techniques and approaches.

UMT Career Fair 2012

LAHORE: UMT Career Fair 2012, held at University ofManagement & Technology Lahore, and witnessed an over-whelming response from job seekers and companies from across theregion. The one day event held on December 20, 2012, witnessedover 4,500 job seekers walk-in to seek better jobs where more than60 companies and their employers honored the fair. Most of thembrought 3 to 5 job opportunities with them. Career Fair was held atmain ground of UMT.

CORPORATE CORNER

HONG KONG

AGENCIES

ASIAN markets mostly fell on Fridayafter Republicans scrapped a vote onputting in place a back-up plan if talkson averting the US fiscal cliff end infailure.

The news out of Washington late Thursdaycancelled out a rally on Wall Street and upbeatdata on the US economy, while it also hit cur-rency traders, who have sent the safe-haven yenhigher despite more Bank of Japan monetaryeasing. Tokyo fell 0.16 percent, Hong Kong lost0.52 percent and Seoul shed 0.84 percent andSydney was 0.12 percent lower, but Shanghaiadded 0.50 percent.

With just under two weeks to go before hugetax hikes and spending cuts are due to kick in —and likely tip the economy into recession — USlawmakers are still unable to reach a compromisethat will avert the fiscal cliff. Late Thursday inWashington Republican House Speaker JohnBoehner scrapped a vote on a bill that would haveextended tax cuts for all Americans earning lessthan $1 million even if a wider deal could not bestruck.

The move, which he described as his “PlanB”, was dropped because he did not have enough

support. Boehner said his party would recessuntil after Christmas.

The measure had been blasted by PresidentBarack Obama’s Democrats as a diversionary tac-tic that would never have passed in the Senate,where they hold a majority. Now both partiesmust come up with a budget that will cut thecountry’s deficit with less painful measures be-fore the start of January, when they take effect.Wall Street ended in positive territory on Thurs-day, however, lifted by fresh data further indicat-ing the US economy is getting back on its feet.The Commerce Department said the economygrew 3.1 percent in the third quarter, up from theestimates of 2.7 percent and 2.0 percent previ-ously stated. The figure reflects upwardrevisions to consumer spending, exports and gov-ernment outlays, and a downward revision to im-ports. Also Thursday the National Association ofRealtors said existing home sales rose 5.9 percentmonth-on-month in November to their highestlevel in three years. The Dow rose 0.45percent,the S&P 500 gained 0.55 percent and theNasdaq climbed 0.20 percent.

Thursday’s delay in Washington sent the yenhigher in Asian trade. The dollar bought 84.20yen against 84.38 yen in New York late Thursday.The euro was at $1.3195 and 111.06 yen comparedwith $1.3241 and 111.72 yen.

Asian marketsretreat as US fiscalcliff fears grow

Fresh raid atDeutsche Bankoffices in Germany

FRANKFURT

AGENCIES

Deutsche Bank offices have beensearched for the second time in a week,the German bank said on Thursday,adding the latest were linked to a legalbattle with the heirs of late media mogulLeo Kirch. A spokesman for Germany’sbiggest bank said the raid at itsheadquarters in the western city ofFrankfurt were part of a probe intoalleged false statements under oath byformer members of the board ofdirectors. “The bank continues to beconvinced that these accusations aregoing to prove unfounded,” thespokesman said. A spokesman for thepublic prosecutor’s office in the southerncity of Munich confirmed the search hadbeen carried out on Wednesday. In aseparate case, prosecutors and tax policelast week raided the offices of DeutscheBank in a probe dating back to 2010 overallegations of suspected tax fraud inconnection with trading in carbonemissions certificates. Deutsche Banksaid on December 12 that one of its co-chief executives Juergen Fitschen wasunder investigation, as well as StefanKrause, who is the bank’s finance chief.Fitschen has said in newspaperinterviews that he sees no reason toresign over the allegations and insistedhe is innocent.

KARACHI: Dawlance Demonstrates DW-115 C-HZ MicrowaveOven features and capabilities in an interactive cooking activitywith Chef Mehboob, Brand Ambassador for Dawlance, also presentwas Noushin Shahid, Microwave Category Manager Dawlance.

Etisalat Group CEO Ahmad AbdulkarimJulfar elected to GSMA BoardISLAMABAD: Chief ExecutiveOfficer, Etisalat Group, AhmadAbdulkarim Julfar has beenelected to the GSM Association(GSMA) Board. Mr. Julfar joins24 other global CEOs and seniorexecutives reflecting the largestoperator groups as well assmaller independent operatorswith global representation.GSMA represents the interests ofmobile operators worldwide,spanning more than 220 coun-tries and uniting nearly 800 ofthe world’s mobile operators withmore than 230 companies in the broader mobile ecosystem, including hand-set makers, software companies, equipment providers and Internet compa-nies, as well as organisations in industry sectors such as financial services,healthcare, media, transport and utilities. The GSMA also produces indus-try-leading events such as the Mobile World Congress and Mobile Asia Expo.Mr. Julfar will work with the GSMA Board and the GSMA to help shape thefuture of mobile communications and develop a new future for the individ-uals, organizations and governments throughout the world. PR

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