Pakistan Investment Bonds Auction

Karachi, June 07, 2012 (PPI-OT): Auction of Pakistan Investment Bonds for 3, 5, 10, and 20 years maturity was held on June 06, 2012 with coupon rates as 11.25%, 11.50%, 12.00%, and 13.00% for 3, 5, 10 and 20 years maturity respectively and settlement date of June 07, 2012. The bid summary for 3, 5, 10 and 20 Years maturity is as following;

(Amount in PKR million)
Tenor Face Value Realized Amount Accrued Interest Total Realized Amount Price Range (per Rs.100)
03 Years

8,775.000

8,533.215

296.696

8,829.911

97.42 – 96.98

05 Years

10,390.400

9,862.873

359.122

10,221.995

95.06 – 94.46

10 Years

25,457.200

23,618.064

918.129

24,536.193

93.08 – 91.93

20 Years

3,680.000

3,589.840

143.781

3,733.621

97.55

Total

48,302.600

45,603.992

1,717.728

47,321.720

Out of the above bids, the accepted bids were as under:

(Amount in PKR million)
Tenor Face Value Realized Accrued Total Realized Cut-off Price Cut-off Effective Weighted
Amount Interest Amount (per Rs.100) Yield (YTM) Average Yield
%p.a. %p.a.
03 Years

7,825.000

7,611.490

264.575

7,876.065

97.16

12.7499

12.6892

05 Years

8,150.400

7,741.900

281.701

8,023.601

94.85

13.1205

13.0753

10 Years

16,607.200

15,421.259

598.948

16,020.208

92.75

13.3847

13.3627

20 Years

3,680.000

3,589.840

143.781

3,733.621

97.55

13.3496

13.3496

Total

36,262.600

34,364.489

1,289.005

35,653.495

For more information, contact:
Syed Wasimuddin
Chief Spokesman
State Bank of Pakistan (SBP)
Tel: +9221 3921 2562
Fax: +9221 3921 2563
Email: syed.wasimuddin@sbp.org.pk

Pakistan’s Liquid Foreign Exchange Reserves Position

Karachi, June 07, 2012 (PPI-OT): The total liquid foreign reserves held by the country stood at $ 15,536.4 million on 1st June, 2012 The break-up of the foreign reserves position is as under: –

i) Foreign reserves held by the State Bank of Pakistan: $ 11,243.7 million.

ii) Net foreign reserves held by banks (other than SBP): $ 4,292.7 million

iii) Total liquid foreign reserves: $ 15,536.4 million

For more information, contact:
Syed Wasimuddin
Chief Spokesman
State Bank of Pakistan (SBP)
Tel: +9221 3921 2562
Fax: +9221 3921 2563
Email: syed.wasimuddin@sbp.org.pk

Pakistan participates in World moot on Inquiry-Based Science Education

Islamabad, June 07, 2012 (PPI-OT): Pakistan Science Foundation (PSF) Chairman Prof. Dr. Manzoor H. Soomro represented Pakistan in International Conference titled “Developing Inquiry-Based Science Education (IBSE): New Issues – The Roles of Assessment and the Relationship with Industry”, held in Helsinki, Finland on May 30-June 1, 2012.

This Conference was organized by the Global Network of Science Academies (IAP), ALLEA All European Academies, Finish Academy of Science and Letters and Finland’s Science Education Centre, LUMA. The Conference brought together different aspects of policy and practice that influence the development of IBSE.

The Conference Programme was based on two main themes related to the Formative and Summative Assessment of Students and the Relationship between Science Education and Industry. Different countries shared their experiences to enhance their understanding about science education techniques.

IBSE programme, La main à la pâte (hands-on) was launched in 1996 by French Academy of Sciences with the support of the National Institute for Pedagogical Research and the École normale supérieure (Paris) and French Ministry of Education. This programme has also met a large interest outside the France.

The experience and expertise of La main à la pâte have been spread among more than 35 countries including China, Brazil, Argentina, Belgium, Cambodia, Cameroon, Chile, Colombia, Egypt, Germany, Morocco, Senegal, Serbia, Slovakia, and Vietnam. Recently, the inquiry-based learning approach has been started in Afghanistan, Iran, Mexico, Peru, Spain, Switzerland, Togo and United States of America.

In the Helsinki Conference, the PSF Chairman gave a presentation on “IBSE in Pakistan–Issues in Implementation and Student Assessment”. He said the IBSE Programme was initiated in Pakistan with the support of French Embassy in 2010. This programme focuses on the teaching of science in primary schools to develop the questioning attitude and critical thinking among children during experiments.

Dr. Soomro told the conference that PSF and the Academie des Sciences, France signed a MoU of cooperation for the improvement of teaching and learning sciences at Primary and Secondary levels through an inquiry-based approach. Mr. Jean Salencon, the then President Academie des Sciences, France and Dr. Manzoor Hussain Soomro Chairman PSF had signed the MoU on behalf of their respective organizations in Paris on December 15, 2010, he added.

He said PSF has conducted three workshops for teachers to promote IBSE. The PSF Chairman said understanding of issues and problems would help in improving the IBSE programme and run it effectively. PSF is working with schools, education departments and NGOs for implementation of IBSE across Pakistan.

The Chairman said the teachers and students participating in IBSE workshops were their resource persons and these master trainers were training other teachers to teach in classroom more effectively by using IBSE techniques. Dr. Soomro said feedback on IBSE Programme from students and teachers was imperative to improve the teaching and learning system.

A poster on IBSE in Pakistan also remained on display for three days during the Conference.

After presentations, the representatives of different countries formulated their recommendations to improve IBSE.

Dr. Soomro held a special meeting with Prof. Pierre Lena, team leader La main à la pâte, from Academie des sciences, France, to review progress of IBSE in Pakistan and discussed future collaborative programmes.

The PSF Chairman also held sideline meeting with team leaders from UK, USA, Australia, Finland and representative of European Union and discussed the possibilities of collaboration with them to improve IBSE. On way back to Pakistan during stopover at Frankfurt Dr. Soomro visited German organizations involved in IBSE and discussed ways and means of collaboration with them.

For more information, contact:
Pakistan Science Foundation
1-Constitution Avenue,
Sector G-5/2, Islamabad
Pakistan
Tel: + 92 51 9202469-70
Fax: + 92 51 9202468

Acting President of Federation of Pakistan Chambers of Commerce and Industry discuss matters relating to promotion of its relations with diplomatic missions with Humayun Sayeed

Islamabad, June 07, 2012 (PPI-OT): Sheikh Abdul Waheed Sandal Acting President the Federation of Pakistan Chambers of Commerce and Industry (FPCCI) in a luncheon meeting with Sheikh Humayun Sayeed Chairman FPCCI Standing Committee on Diplomatic Affairs discussed matters relating to promotion of FPCCI relations with the diplomatic missions in Pakistan.

He emphasized on the need of exploring new markets for exports particularly in the OIC countries. He also discussed the forth coming Board of Directors meeting of Islamic Chamber of Commerce and Industry to be held in coming December in Karachi.

Sheikh Humayun Sayeed,briefed the Acting President about the initiatives being taken by his committee for better liaisoning with the diplomatic missions.

The luncheon meeting was also attended by Sheikh Shakeel Ahmad Dhingra, Mr.Iqbal Dawood Pakwala Vice Presidents FPCCI.Mr.Dawood Usman Jakhura,Immediate past Vice President and other prominent businessmen.

For more information, contact:
Syed Masood Alam Rizvi
Secretary General
Federation of Pakistan Chambers of Commerce and Industry (FPCCI)
B-1, Federation House, Main Clifton Road,
Shahra-e-Firdousi,
Karachi-75600, Pakistan
Tel: 0092-21-35873691, 93-94
Fax: +9221 3587 4332
Email: info@fpcci.com.pk
URL: www.fpcci.com.pk

Coal gasification a solution to power crisis

Lahore, June 07, 2012 (PPI-OT): Coal gasification offers one of the most versatile and clean ways to convert coal into electricity, hydrogen and other valuable energy products,” said experts while speaking at Workshop jointly organized by the Lahore Chamber of Commerce and Industry (LCCI) and Small and Medium Enterprises Development Authority (SMEDA) on Coal Gasification and its Benefits to the Industry on Thursday.

The LCCI Senior Vice President Kashif Younis Meher was the Chief Guest while General Manager SMEDA Alamghir Chaudhry, Engineer S A Khalid, Engineer Zahid Malik, Engineer Khalid Umer and Mohammad Shakeel were prominent among the speakers.

In his opening remarks, the LCCI Senior Vice President Kashif Younis Meher said that there is no second opinion about it that the technology is the key to success and only those countries would be able to make their presence felt at International level who would adopt modern technologies.

He said that as the coal gasification is the future therefore Pakistani research institutes should focus on giving awareness to Pakistani entrepreneurs about this technology in vogue in the developed world.

The LCCI senior Vice President said that it was very unfortunate that Pakistani research institutes have failed to play their role properly this is one of reasons of economic meltdown being faced by the country.

The LCCI Senior Vice President said that Pakistan is currently experiencing its worst ever energy crisis. The impact of these crises is getting so critical that our industry is getting on the verge of complete closure. The irony of the fact is that three decades ago, electricity was generated from hydel and non hydel resources with a proportion of 70:30.

“Now the situation has totally reversed. It means that the country is relying too much on gas, oil and other sources to generate electricity. It has resulted in costlier electricity which has wiped out competitive edge in international market and also pushed us to that stage where our future has become skeptical.”

Keeping in view the shortage of natural gas and high prices of oil, we are bound to explore alternative ways of producing energy. Though some experts suggest going for solar and wind energy but the installation cost of such projects are way too high, which makes it unviable in our case.

Luckily, having abundant reserves of coal, which will not cost us dearly, we can utilize it for energy production. He said that according to reports 80,000 megawatts of electricity is being produced through underground coal gasification in different countries of the world including South Africa, Australia, China, Russia, Poland, Czech and Uzbekistan. But sadly, the government did not allocate funds in the federal budget 2012-13 for this project.

There was a consensus among the other speakers that Coal Gasification provides significant economic and environmental benefits. They said that rather than burning coal directly, gasification breaks down coal into its basic chemical constituents using high temperature and pressure. Because of this, carbon dioxide can be captured from a gas stream far more easily than from the smokestacks of a conventional coal plant.

“Rather than burning coal directly, coal gasification reacts coal with steam and controlled amounts of air or oxygen under high temperatures and pressures to produce a gaseous mixture, typically hydrogen and carbon monoxide.

These hot, coal gases exiting the gasifier are used to power a gas turbine. Hot exhaust from the gas turbine is then fed to a heat recovery steam generator (HRSG). The steam from the HRSG is then fed to a conventional steam turbine, producing a second source of power.”

Coal gasification can not only used for power generation but also it can become source of synthetic oil, coal chemicals, natural gas substitution. Also it can be used for development of the fuel cell. Thus coal gasification become member of clean coal technology with other advantages.

Many experts predicted that coal gasification will be at the heart of clean coal technology and can pave the way for coal for future generations.

For more information, contact:
Shahid Khalil
Information Department
Lahore Chamber of Commerce and Industry (LCCI)
11-Shahrah-e-Aiwan-e-Tijarat,
Lahore -54000, Pakistan
Tel: +9242 111 222 499
Fax: +92 42 636 8854

Business Community of Pakistan shows Satisfaction on Pak-EU recent Strategic Dialogue and Expect more Cooperation from European Union

Islamabad, June 07, 2012 (PPI-OT): Sheikh Humayun Sayeed, Chairman FPCCI Standing Committee on Diplomatic Affairs and former Vice President of FPCCI in a press statement expressed satisfaction on the recent Pakistan and European Union Strategic Dialogue.

He commended the Pakistan foreign office for handling the dialogue in a befitting manner. He said that recent dialogue on Autonomous Trade Preferences (ATPs) for Pakistan offered by the EU will always be cherished by Pakistan as this offer came at a moment when Pakistan was hit by devastating flood. Majority of the districts in Sindh province were terribly hit. He further added that the ATPs will boost Pak-EU trade relations.

Sheikh Humayun Sayeed stated that Generalized System of Preferences plus (GSP+) should also be offered to Pakistan because Pakistan is a major of textiles to EU. Pakistani textile products are famous among both local residents as well as Pakistani diaspora.

The European Union remains Pakistan’s largest trading partner receiving 18 % of Pakistan’s exports and providing 9% of its total imports. The overall volume of trade between the EU and Pakistan was almost US$ 1 billion in the year 2010-11 and balance of trade was in Pakistan’s favour.

While appreciating the formation of Pak-EU Steering Committee on Counter-terrorism he also appreciated EU on the acknowledgment of the sacrifices made by Pakistan against the war on terror. He also strongly proposed that the Steering Committee on Pak-EU Economic and Trade issue should have private-sector representation through the FPCCI.

For more information, contact:
Syed Masood Alam Rizvi
Secretary General
Federation of Pakistan Chambers of Commerce and Industry (FPCCI)
B-1, Federation House, Main Clifton Road,
Shahra-e-Firdousi,
Karachi-75600, Pakistan
Tel: 0092-21-35873691, 93-94
Fax: +9221 3587 4332
Email: info@fpcci.com.pk
URL: www.fpcci.com.pk

Final competition of Faisalabad, Sargodha Youth Inter School Football Championship conclude

Faisalabad, June 07, 2012 (PPI-OT): The colourful ceremony of the final competition of Faisalabad/Sargodha Youth Inter School Football Championship-2012” concluded in Faisalabad on Wednesday. Government High Scholl Gaddi, Faisalabad lifted the Faisalabad/Sargodha Youth Inter School Football Championship-2012 trophy after edging out PAF Public High School, Sargodha in the final played at Football Ground, University of Agricultural, Faisalabad.

According to the press release issued here by Pakistan Football Federation (PFF), the final was really a treat to watch between two top youth U-16 teams of the event. The match started in a very positive manner and both the teams started to attack each other’s goal post from the beginning. The match ended in the favour of Government High School Gaddi1 1:0, when Striker Majid Ali netted the ball at 51st minutes.

His Excellency Mr. Paul Molloy, Charge d’ affairs of the Australian High Commission, Islamabad was the chief guest of the final accompanied by Lt. Col. ® Ahmed Yar Khan Lodhi TM(I), General Secretary, PFF. Winner Trophy along with Rs. 20,000/- was awarded to Government High School Gaddi, Faisalabad by chief guest, runner up trophy and Rs. 10, 000/- were given to PAF Public High School, Sargodha. Government High School # 2 Sargodha got third position trophy.

Fair play trophy was given to Government High Scholl Chabba, Faisalabad. Majid Ali of Gaddi snatched best players trophy with cash award of Rs. 5, 000/-, while Rs, 5, 000/- and trophy was awarded to Rameez Ahmed Khan of PAF Public High School, Sargodha for his nomination as highest top scorer. Hassan Mujtaba of Government High Scholl # 2, Sargodha declared best Goal Keeper with trophy and cash award of Rs. 5,000/-.

Earlier His Excellency Mr. Paul Molloy, Charge d’affairs of the Australian High Commission, Islamabad held a press conference during which commended that encouraging young of both genders must be involved in sports.

We also hope that the PFF’s initiatives will have important spill-over effects on the wider community, such as promoting health and well-being, and enhancing social cohesion. Such activity reflects the true spirit of our mutual goal for the enhancement of sport activity among our youth.

General Secretary PFF during his address thanked the Australian Government especially His Excellency Mr. Paul Molloy for his interest in the development of football at youth level in Pakistan.

The purpose of ASOP program is to complement larger community development schemes, especially for youth and women worldwide through sport and physical activity. The ASOP is funded by AusAID and managed by Australian Sports Commission (ASC).

This event is a part of the Youth Football Development Project in Pakistan being funded by the Australian Sports Commission of Australian Government through its Australian Sports Outreach Program (ASOP). This is noticeable that this is second consecutive edition of such development projects which is presented by the PFF and endorsed by the Australian Government through the Australian High Commission, Islamabad.

For more information contact:
Pakistan Football Federation
PFF SECRETARIAT, PFF House,
Opposite Punjab Stadium,
Ferozepur Road,
Lahore – Pakistan.
Tel: +92 42 99230821, +92 42 99230822
Fax: +92 42 99230823
Email: mail@pff.com.pk
URL: www.pff.com.pk