Commerce Minister appreciates United States Government for voting in Pakistan’s favour in meeting of Board of Governors of World Bank on Dasu Dam

Islamabad, July 10, 2014 (PPI-OT): Federal Minister for Commerce, Engr. Khurram Dastgir Khan held a meeting with the US Principal Deputy Special Representative to Pakistan and Afghanistan, Elizabeth Jones to discuss the implementation status of the Joint Action Plan agreed upon in the talks held under the Trade and Investment Framework Agreement (TIFA). US Ambassador to Pakistan Mr. Richard Olson was also present in the meeting.

The Minister appreciated the US Government for voting in Pakistan’s favor in the meeting of Board of Governors of World Bank on Dasu Dam. During the meeting the Minister said that the Joint Action Plan was a right step forward towards enhancing trade relations between the two countries. However, specific actions along with respective timelines need to be chalked out by the two sides to achieve the desired objectives.

The Minister also commended the US Trade Representative’s continued support in holding successful Business Opportunities Conferences and said that the 3rd Pak-US Business Opportunities Conference is scheduled for 2nd week of November this year in Islamabad for which the two sides have started meetings at working level.

Minister also discussed the way forward on the MoU signed between the two sides during TIFA regarding Economic Empowerment of Women Entrepreneurs in Pakistan, facilitation of Pakistani companies in the procurement processes of the US Government institution and the prospects of private US investment in Pakistan.

The Minister directed the Trade Development of Pakistan to develop proposals to keep a sustainable growth in Pakistan’s exports to the US. A meeting between the representatives of Ministry of Commerce and US trade representatives is expected right after the month of Ramazan where meaningful proposals to enhance Pak-US trade volume is expected to surface.

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Prime Minister announces development package worth billions for Karachi

Islamabad, July 10, 2014 (PPI-OT): Prime Minister announces development package worth billions for Karachi – PM chairs meeting on Law and Order, Development Projects and consultative session with prominent businessmen and civil society representatives

Prime Minister Muhammad Nawaz Sharif has said that we will not rest till Karachi’s status is restored to the “city of lights” as Karachi is the heart and economic hub of Pakistan. He said this while chairing a meeting on development projects held at Governor House Karachi today.

Prime Minister announced Rapid Bus Transport System to be called “Green Line” in Karachi that will be fully funded by the Federal Government. Prime Minister further announced release of Rs. 55 billion for acquisition of land for Karachi – Lahore motorway and early completion of Gaddani Power Park and Two power projects at Port Qasim.

“I know that expansion of Karachi has resulted in acute water shortage and we will resolve this issue on priority basis”, said the Prime Minister and announced approval of greater water supply scheme for Karachi wherein water will be supplied from Keenjhar Lake. Prime Minister said that Federal Government will bear 50 % (Rs. 6.5 billion) of the total cost of this project.

In another meeting chaired by the Prime Minister on Law and Order, Chief Secretary Sind and DG Rangers gave detailed briefing to the Prime Minister about overall law and order situation in Karachi. The Chief Secretary informed that the targeted operation is going on in the right direction as targeted killings have decreased. Moreover, Chief Secretary apprised that 10,000 Policemen have already been recruited and training will be provided to them.

Prime Minister advised that a joint plan should be devised by Sind Government, Federal Interior Ministry and Armed forces for training of these new Police recruits so that they can effectively counter the menace of terrorism. Corps Commander Karachi assured that Pakistan Army will provide full support and cooperation to Sind Police with regards to human resources and technical assistance.

Prime Minister appreciated the efforts of Sind Government, Police, Rangers, Army and Intelligence Agencies for conducting a coordinated targeted operation in Karachi.

Prime Minister said that we all have to work on war-footing basis to get rid of the menace of terrorism and in this regard the Federal Government will provide all possible help.

Prime Minister also held a consultative meeting with prominent businessmen, civil society representatives and media persons. Prime Minister said that government is doing its best to restore peace in Karachi, but it is the collective responsibility of all segments of society to restore Karachi to its past glory. Prime Minister invited practicable suggestions from the participants regarding improving the overall situation of Karachi.

Earlier, upon arrival at Karachi, Prime Minister visited the residence of Late Mir Khair Bux Marri and offered condolences to the deceased’s family.

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Minister meets delegation of N.G. Employees Welfare Association

Islamabad, July 10, 2014 (PPI-OT): Minister of State Barrister Usman Ibrahim of Capital Administration and Development Division met a delegation of N.G. Employees Welfare Association at (PIMS) today.

Minister of State Usman Ibrahim was briefed about the issues that Pakistan Institute of Medical Sciences is facing due to its up gradation into the university. Members of the association told the minister that the land along with the physical and non physical property of the PIMS has been made part of the university. Moreover the civil servants status of the four thousand employees of the PIMS has been affected as well. Further they added that a hospital should not up graded into a medical university like medical colleges.

A private bill, regarding this issue has been pending in standing committee for quite a long time now, so the delegation requested the minister to help them in this regard.

Minister of State assured the delegation that he would personally take up this issue and would discuss the matter with the chairman of standing committee. In the end delegation thanked the Minister of State for his consideration and thoughtfulness in this regard.

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Finance Minister chairs meeting to consider pension reforms in federal government

Islamabad, July 10, 2014 (PPI-OT): Finance Minister, Senator Ishaq Dar chaired a meeting at the Finance Ministry today to consider pension reforms in the federal government.

The Finance Minister said that the objective of the PML-N Government is to simplify and fast track the process of pension disbursement to the retiring government servants. He said, “We have seen that the pension cases are not submitted by the respective departments in time despite active follow-up by the pensioners.”

Mr. Aquil Raza Khoja, General Manager Punjab Pension Fund who was also present in the meeting informed that the objective of the Fund is to generate revenue for the discharge of the pension liabilities of the Government of Punjab. Moreover the purpose of this initiative is to revamp and upgrade the old system of processing of pension cases of the retiring government servants. The new system envisages replacing the existing manual system of disbursement of monthly pension through treasuries or National Bank of Pakistan.

The Finance Minister observed that the Punjab Government has adopted a good business model to ease out and facilitate future pension liabilities but does not include complete reformation which the government intends to introduce. He said that we need to have a robust and complete reformation in this regard and same model should also be followed by the federal and provincial governments.

The Finance Minister said that efforts should be made to introduce new smart cards for pensioners so that they can get their pensions through the ATMs. The Minister said that he will not allow government functionaries to create problems for the pensioners and the government must simplify the pension procedure and seek single page information from pensioners.

The Minister directed that a transparent system should be devised to simplify the form, decrease the time required for approval and withdrawal of pension by the pensioners. He asked the authorities to consider use of IT devices for pension withdrawal; it will also avoid the cases of fraudulent ghost pensioners which frequently come up.

The Finance Minister said “The new retirees, who have served till 1st July 2014, will get their pensions from direct credit system. Their pensions will be credited directly to their pay accounts to make the system convenient for the freshly retiring person. It will also save the people from undue delay by the government authorities and making the system transparent and hassle free, he added. It was also decided that the Finance Secretary will present a report on proposed pension related reforms in a two weeks time for consideration and report to the Prime Minister.

The meeting was also attended by Dr. Waqar Masood, Finacne Secretary,

Ms. Farah Ayub Tarin, CGA, Rana Assad Amin, Advisor to Finance Ministry, Mr. Shahid Mahmood, Additional Finance Secretary/SA to Finance Minister and senior officials of the Finance Ministry.

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Ishaq Dar chairs meeting of body to resolve long standing trade issues between Pakistan and Russia

Islamabad, July 10, 2014 (PPI-OT): Federal Minister for Finance Senator Mohammad Ishaq Dar chaired a meeting of the Committee formed by the Prime Minister to resolve long standing trade issues between Pakistan and Russia at the Finance Ministry today.

Chairman BOI, Mr. Mifttah Ismail informed the Committee that the Pakistani businessmen who are party to the litigation in the courts with the Russian Government have agreed to dispute resolution and the proposals in this regard will be communicated to the Russian side for moving forward. He informed that negotiations with the Pakistani businessmen are in a clear shape to be forwarded to the Russian side.

Mr. Khurram Dastagir Khan, Minister for Commerce said that the dispute is an impediment to enhancing cooperation between the two sides in energy and infrastructure development sectors. He said that we are facilitating to the business community and willing to work for their interests.

Mr. Yaqoob Tabani M/s Tabani Corporation and Mr. Rauf Alam M/w Fateh Group of Industries Ltd who are party to the dispute expressed their confidence in the government efforts. They said that credit goes to the Finance Minister and other Committee members that efforts are being made to resolve an issue which has hindered the trade relations of the two countries for the last 17 years.

The Finance Minister said that there is lot of potential in trade between the two countries but unfortunately due to this impasse we could not benefit to our true potential. He said that the solution will be win-win situation for both the Russian Government and our businessmen. He emphasized that any arrangement agreed by both the parties should be implemented with full commitment and result in winding up of litigations and restoration of normal trade relations.

He emphasized that we need to move on fast track for resolution of this outstanding financial dispute enabling Russian investors to bring in their capital to Pakistan and explore the areas in which they can help.

Dr. Waqar Masood, Finance Secretary, Mr. Shahzad Arbab, Commerce Secretary, Rana Assad Amin, Advisor to Finance Ministry and senior officials of the Ministry of Finance also attended the meeting.

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Silent Circle Expands Encrypted Services With Global ‘Out-Circle’ Calling

– Encrypted International Calling to Non-Subscribers Now Available Worldwide

GENEVA, July 10, 2014 / PRNewswire – Silent Circle, the private communications firm revolutionizing mobile device privacy for organizations and individuals alike, today announced the expansion of Out-Circle Calling (OCC) encrypted hybrid calling that enables Silent Circle members to make and receive encrypted, private voice calls through the company’s Silent Phone service to non-Silent Circle subscribers in 79 total countries. The launch of global Out-Circle Calling represents a major disruption to wireless carriers’ traditional mobile calling models, which impose steep roaming fees on consumer and business subscribers. In contrast, Out-Circle Calling gives Silent Phone users a high-fidelity VoIP option for calling standard mobile and public switched telephone network (PSTN) lines across the world while benefiting from the combined privacy, utility and value of having Silent Circle’s global encrypted mobile communications available anywhere they find cellular and Wi-Fi networks.

Silent%20Circle%20logo. Silent Circle Expands Encrypted Services With Global Out Circle Calling

Silent Circle logo.

Logo – http://photos.prnewswire.com/prnh/20121016/LA92632LOGO

Starting today, subscribers who enroll in Silent Circle’s encrypted international calling plans will be given unique ten-digit Silent Phone numbers letting them complete calls “outside the Circle” to and from a significantly expanded number of geographic regions – four to five times more than its closest non-secure competitors like Skype and Viber. Out-Circle encrypted calling plans (https://www.silentcircle.com/pricing) start at $12.95 USD for 100 minutes, which provides unlimited Silent Phone member to member calling, unlimited Silent Text messaging around the world, the ability to receive calls to your Silent Phone number from anyone in the world, plus 100 minutes to make calls to non-subscribers in any of the regions covered (https://www.silentcircle.com/coverage). Plans with additional minutes (https://www.silentcircle.com/pricing) can be purchased at $19.95 for 250 minutes, $24.95 for 500 minutes and $39.95 for 1000 minutes. Calls can be received from anywhere in the world at the calling party’s standard long-distance rates.

“Silent Circle’s Out-Circle encrypted international calling plans are a major step forward in bringing private encrypted communications capabilities to all corners of the world. Silent Phone and Silent Text already offer unmatched advantages, but with today’s expansion we are giving our members a tremendous increase in cost and flexibility benefits,” said Mike Janke, Silent Circle CEO. “The facts are that Out-Circle Calling provides a low-cost, private alternative to traditional mobile calling plans that everyone from your neighbor to traveling multinational executives can use. The expanded geographic reach – combined with the superb call quality and unsurpassed built-in privacy features of Silent Phone – further extend Silent Circle’s lead in helping individuals and enterprises safely communicate across town or around the world.”

“With Out-Circle Calling, Silent Circle is directly challenging the legacy model of mobile carriers by offering an alternative to costly mobile roaming fees. This is an especially important issue for our enterprise and government customers around the world,” said Vic Hyder, Silent Circle’s Chief of Revenue. “International fees and roaming charges account for a significant portion of European and Latin American business overhead. Our encrypted international calling service completely eliminates roaming charges while protecting members’ privacy with the use of Silent Phone.”

Silent Circle is changing how the world communicates in the face of increasing criminal, state-sponsored, commercial, and internet-wide privacy threats impacting people around the world. Silent Circle members use Silent Phone to place high-quality, private voice and video calls on iOS and Android devices and use Out-Circle Calling to dial conventional phone numbers where communications are encrypted between the Silent Phone user’s device and Silent Circle’s private network. Silent Circle’s Silent Phone for Desktop offers additional, private videoconferencing features for users on Windows laptops and desktops. Silent Text allows members to exchange private mobile messages, including large attachments up to 100MB with a burn feature that securely auto-deletes sent messages and attachments at a predetermined time from both senders’ and receivers’ devices.

Silent Circle’s unique private communications apps are also available in Blackphone, the world’s first smartphone placing privacy and control directly in the hands of its users. Developed by SGP Technologies, a Swiss-based joint venture between Silent Circle and Spanish mobile phone developer Geeksphone, Blackphone devices began shipping to customers in June and feature PrivatOS, a privacy-enhanced operating system built on Android™ and a full suite of privacy-enabled applications, including Silent Phone and Silent Text.

ABOUT SILENT CIRCLE
Silent Circle is a private communications service headquartered in Switzerland, providing a revolutionary device to device platform enabling encrypted communications services via voice, video, text and file transfer on mobile devices. Silent Circle was co-founded by Mike Janke, former Navy SEAL and security expert; Phil Zimmermann, the world famous creator of internet encryption for voice and data and 2012 inductee into the Internet Hall of Fame; and Jon Callas, creator of Apple’s whole disk encryption and co-founder of PGP Corporation.  For more on Silent Circle, go to: https://www.silentcircle.com

Press Contacts:

For U.S.:
Tom Resau
W2 Communications
tom@w2comm.com
703-877-8103

For U.K. and E.U.:
Dulcie McLerie
Eskenzi PR Ltd.
dulcie@eskenzipr.com
+44-2071-832-837

 

The post Silent Circle Expands Encrypted Services With Global ‘Out-Circle’ Calling appeared first on Business News Pakistan.

13th July a milestone in Kashmir’s freedom history

Srinagar, July 10, 2014 (PPI-OT): In occupied Kashmir, Hurriyet leaders Yasmeen Raja and Farida Behanji paying glowing tributes to the martyrs of July 13, 1931 have said that the incident serves as a milestone in the freedom history of the people of Jammu and Kashmir.

The Chairperson of Muslim Khawateen Markaz, Yasmeen Raja in a statement issued in Srinagar said the 13th July reminds the people of Kashmir of glorious sacrifices they rendered for freedom from the clutches of Dogra Rule.

The Jammu and Kashmir Mass Movement Chairperson, Farida Behanji appealed the people to observe complete strike on Sunday, the 13th July to mark the Kashmir Martyrs Day.

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