Turi reiterates govt's suppor t for Shipbreak ing Industr y

Decent Work Program for shipbreaking and mine workers mad Shehbaz Sharif had visited all floodhit areas of KP last year including Swat and Kohistan and disbursed billions of rupees among flood victims Engr Amir Muqam said that despite several attacks on his life he stood with the people of Khyber Pakhtunkhwa and raised their problems at all forums

He said that PMLN after coming into power would continue development projects and address people’s problems at their doorsteps On this occasion eminent political workers including Nazeerzada Zayad Khan Subhanullah Sher Dil Shamsur Rehman and others resigned from other political parties and joined PMLN They expressed full confidence in the leadership of Engr Amir Muqam and vowed to utilize all their energies for strengthening the party Amir Muqam welcomed the new entrants in the party fold and assured full support to them

exper ts stress societ y free from abuse of children, child labour

LAHORE S TA F F R E P O R T

Experts on Sunday called upon all concerned including the media government and private organisations to play du role in making institutional and non-institutional sectors free from child abuse and child labour

It is a social stigma and a gigantic problem in both developing and industrialised countries and lowincome communities they said Ms Munawar Sultana National Project Coordinator Asia Regional Child Labour (ARC) project said that around 160 million children aged 5 to 17 years were engaged in child labour in 2020, with 79 million children involved in hazardous work About 3 3 million of Pakistani children are trapped in child labour, who are deprived of their childhood, their health and education she said Hameed Alam an elderly social activist told APP here that children in all provinces of the country are being exploited physically morally socially and mentally He said that hundreds of millions of girls and boys around the world are affected due to the child abuse and child labour menace They are forced to spend a life of poverty and harassment the United Nations

Children’s Fund (UNICEF) revealed in its recent report To prevent child labour global organisations like the International Labor Organisation (ILO) and SPARC must work jointly to save children from the curse of child abuse and child labour, he stressed Child abuse is a serious problem in Pakistan that often goes unpunished; however, there are laws in place that offer severe penalties for those who are convicted of abusing children he added

A total of 160 million children – 63 million girls and 97 million boys – are in child labour globally accounting for almost one in 10 of all children worldwide Peter Buwembo, officer-in-charge, ILO Country Office, stressed in a statement the importance of reliable data on child labour He mentioned that an ongoing child labour survey in Pakistan would generate updated and accurate evidence for programme and policies

ISLAMABAD

S TA F F R E P O R T

Federal Minister for Overseas Pakistanis and HRD Sajid Hussain Turi visited e Gaddani shipbreaking yard and had a detailed meeting with various stakeholders, including Jan Sher Bazenjo, Chairman Municipal Corporation Gaddani Zulfiqar Ahmad Secretary Workers Welfare

Fund, Tariq Qamar, Secretary Labor Balochistan Wali Kakar Chairman Balochistan Development Authority Capt (Rtd) Javed Director BDA Rizwan Dewan Chairman Shipbreaker Association and representatives of workers and different organizations This visit was a continuation of his engagements in Geneva during ILC regarding Occupational Safety and Health and

During the meeting, Sajid Hussain Turi assured that the government of Pakistan will ratify the Hong Kong Convention and address Occupational Safety and Health (OSH) and other related problems in the shipbreaking industry The safety and health of shipbreaking workers are a top priority for the government, and they are taking measures to provide facilities in line with international standards and ILO conventions He said that Bilwal Bhutto Zardari and other leadership of PPP PM Pakistan prioritize health and safety of workers All stakeholders actively participated in the discussion Various issues and challenges faced by the shipbreaking industry were discussed and Chairman BDA informed that the Hong Kong Convention is awaiting approval in the cabinet Sajid Hussain Turi pledged efforts to facilitate its approval

Pia loses rs19b due to cancellation of scheduled flights in one year

ISLAMABAD

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The Pakistan International Airlines (PIA) has lost Rs19 billion due to the cancellation of scheduled flights in one year According to the PIA figures, four thousand and three hundred and five domestic and foreign flights were canceled The figures revealed that PIA lost Rs19 billion due to the cancellation of flights during one year in 2021

This loss to PIA was due to the cancellation of more than four thousand flights During the 2021 audit of the Flight Operations Department, it was seen that PIA’s domestic and foreign scheduled flights were 23 thousand 636 Out of 23 thousand 636 4 thousand 305 flights were cancelled which is 18 percent of the total scheduled flights Most of all 538 flights were canceled in May 2021 Due to lack of proper planning, the corporation incurred a loss of Rs over 19 billion This matter was reported to the management in November 2022

CPEC model of two nations adherence to joint construction, sharing of high-quality resources: Chinese scholar

The China-Pakistan Economic Corridor (CPEC) is a model of the two nations’ adherence to joint construction and sharing of highquality resources which has promoted the socioeconomic progress of Pakistan Li Yong a senior research fellow at the China Association of International Trade said on Sunday Chinese Vice Premier He Lifeng, acting as the special envoy of Chinese President Xi Jinping, kicked off an official visit to Pakistan on Sunday to attend the Decade of China-Pakistan Economic Corridor (CPEC) celebrations

The two countries all-weather strategic cooperation partners, have enhanced comprehensive cooperation under the framework of the Belt and Road Initiative (BRI) during the past 10 years

The CPEC is a flagship of the BRI which has experts said noting that Western countries disparaging CPEC won conceal Chinese enterprises contribution to Pakistan nor hurt the iron-clad friendship of the two neighbours

The Chinese Foreign Ministry said on Saturday that China hopes that He Lifeng’s visit will be an opportunity to implement the important consensus reached between leaders of the two countries continue to build on past achievements and upgrade the development of the CPEC

The country also hopes that the visit will consolidate and deepen the China-Pakistan all-weather strategic partnership, advance the building of an even closer China-Pakistan community with a shared future in the new era and contribute to the development and prosperity of the region

Before the launch of the CPEC, a signature project of the BRI envisaged by China, Pakistan was striving for economic survival, languishing in an energy crisis, with poor infrastructure and financial challenges As a silver lining the CPEC came to the rescue

Within 10 years the initiative was transforming Pakistan and bringing prosperity Yasir Habib Khan president of the Institute of International Relations and Media Research, told the Global Times

As of 2022, the CPEC had brought $25 4 billion in direct investment to Pakistan and created about 236 000 jobs there It helped Pakistan generate 8 000 megawatts of electricity and build 886 kilometres of national core transmission grid according to the Chinese Embassy in Pakistan While China and Pakistan have kept on promoting high-quality development of the CPEC Western media use debt trapsť and unqualified projects to smear the BRI project Facts speak louder than the smearing rhetoric The achievements over the past 10 years in the construction of the CPEC are the best response to the debt trap and other discrediting smears, Li told the Global Times

One of the watershed developments during the 10 years was the high-octane operation of Gwadar Port the crown jewel of the

CPEC

Gwadar was once an old fishing town and now it is on a high tide of success with tangible socioeconomic progress, including the establishment of free trade zones there, the Eastbay Express Way, and the inauguration of the New International Gwadar Airport according to Yasir Zhang Baozhong chairman of China

Overseas Ports Holding Co told the Global Times that with the improvement of local ports and infrastructure including hospitals, airports and schools, Gwadar has now been transformed into a modern seaside city with a permanent resident population that grew from 80 000 in 2013 to 220 000 in 2023

Zhang said that his company aims to build Gwadar into a smart port city by 2050 with a total population of more than 1 7 million and an annual GDP of $30 billion

The Peshawar-Karachi Motorway (PKM), the largest transportation project under the CPEC was completed in 2019 The project gave priority to hiring Pakistani employees providing more than 23 000 local jobs according to a statement China State Construction sent to the Global Times

The PKM project has also helped propel the development of services industries such as catering, retailing and transportation, indirectly creating more than 45,000 jobs

Danish a manager of Power-China’s construction project group in Pakistan told the Global Times that in the field of green energy Pakistanis are impressed by the technology accumulation and construction efficiency of Chinese companies

Power-China has completed the construction of 22 wind power projects in Pakistan with a total installed capacity of 1 14 million kilowatts

In connection with the 10th anniversary of CPEC, the CPEC Industry Chain Cooperation Platform was launched to kick-start a comprehensive services system covering key industrial cooperation in new energy, smart manufacturing and the digital economy between China