February 28, 2018

Government confirms Pakistan will be placed on terror financing ‘grey list’ in June

Ending a nearly week-long confusion over Pakistan’s placement on a ‘grey list’ of the Financial Action Task Force (FATF), the Foreign Office confirmed on Wednesday that the country is set to be added to the watchlist of countries where terrorist outfits are still allowed to raise funds in June.

Speaking at a weekly news briefing, FO spokesman Dr Muhammad Faisal revealed that a decision to place Pakistan on the watchlist was taken at the FATF plenary held in Paris last week. He, however, ruled out the possibility that Pakistan could even be placed on the international watchdog’s blacklist over a lack of compliance.

“Pakistan will be placed on the [FATF] ‘grey list’ in June, but there is currently no chance of [its] placement on the blacklist,” the spokesman said, adding that Pakistan will cooperate with FATF in every possible way.

An action plan to eradicate terrorist financing is being prepared and will accordingly be shared with the international body, he said.

According to Dr Faisal, the FATF has asked Pakistan to take additional steps to curb money laundering and terror financing.

He said Pakistan has already taken steps to remove the deficiencies in these areas and cited the presidential ordinance that was quietly passed days before the FATF plenary to amend the anti-terror legislation in order to include all UN-listed individuals and groups in the national listings of proscribed outfits and persons.

All matters related to FATF will be dealt with by the finance ministry, the FO spokesman said, adding that all matters relating to the terror financing issue except for press releases are of a “sensitive nature

Can’t say China didn’t support Pakistan in FATF meeting, says envoy

ISLAMABAD: Chinese Ambassador to Pakistan Yao Jing on Tuesday said he can’t say that Beijing did not support Pakistan in Financial Action Task Force (FATF) meeting during which the US moved a motion to put Pakistan on ‘grey-list.’

While addressing a seminar on Challenges and Opportunities facing Shanghai Cooperation Organization, the envoy said he does not know yet what happened in Paris as it is a very technical issue.

“China has always praised Pakistan’s efforts against terrorism and extended its full support at every forum,” he asserted.

The week-long FATF meeting was held to decide on the US-led motion seeking to put Pakistan on its ‘grey-list’ for not taking concrete measures against terror finance.

Despite claims of Indian media, FATF has not mentioned such move against Pakistan in its statement issued after the meeting. Pakistani officials stated that country has been given three-month breather to take essential measures to avoid action.

Meanwhile, Chinese foreign ministry’s spokesperson also said that China highly valued Pakistan’s active measures to strengthen financial supervision and crack down on terrorist financing.

He asked the international community to view objectively and evaluate Pakistan’s efforts in the field of international anti-terrorism instead of accusing Pakistan of bias with prejudice.

“Pakistan has taken active measures to strengthen financial supervision and crack down on terrorist financing and made important progress. China gives high recognition to this,” Lu Kang said during his regular briefing while responding to a question asked by the APP Correspondent.

“We hope all concerned parties in the international community can give an objective and fair assessment of this,” he added.

Swiss Consul General Terms China-Pakistan Economic Corridor (CPEC) An Economic Turning Point

Swiss Consul General Terms China-Pakistan Economic Corridor (CPEC) An Economic Turning Point.

HYDERABAD, The Consul General of Switzerland in KarachiPhilippe Crevoisier while terming the China-Pakistan Economic Corridor (CPEC) an economic turning point in the region said that it was inviting the foreign investors to make their investment in Pakistan.

He expressed these remarks while addressing a reception hosted by the President Hyderabad Chamber of Commerce and Industry (HCCI) Goharullah in his honour here at HCCI Secretariat on Monday. According to HCCI spokesman, the Consul General said both Switzerland and Pakistan enjoy good economic relations with numbers of the Swiss companies operating in Pakistan.

As a result of healthy economic cooperation, he said that the Swiss exports have been increase by 15.1 percent in 2016 with 16.8 percent imports.

Besides economic cooperation, he said that both the countries also enjoying healthy bilateral relations with cooperation in education, research and innovations.

The Switzerland is also sharing contribution of development cooperation and humanitarian aid in Pakistan and focused the areas of rural development, he said. He said that Pakistani products have great potential in the European market and the investment from many European countries including Italy could bring fruitful results in this direction.

The President HCCI Goharullah in his welcome address has briefed the Consul General about the industrial activities of Hyderabad adding that there is a great opportunity for foreign investors to make their investment in textile and automobile industries of Hyderabad.

Besides, the Swiss investors can also make their investment in the power sector, he said and underlined the need of exchange of trade delegations between the two countries. Among others, Senior Vice President HCCI Turab Ali Khoja and Vice President Ziauddin were also present on the occasion.

Gwadar holds potential to become the next Dubai, British Newspaper reports

Gwadar is a significant asset for Pakistan and China and holds the potential to become the next Dubai in future, a British newspaper predicted, adding that the sea port would build alliance between Pakistan and China that could up-end the entire balance of power in the Indian Ocean.

The report came after citing the China Pakistan Economic Corridor (CPEC) plan, which iterated that the bilateral infrastructure and planning contract will prove beneficial to the neighboring countries, Telegraph published on Saturday

According to the source, Pakistan faced an imminent blackout which could effectively be solved with a genuine plan to fix the discrepancies in delivery and communication of the difference in the need and provision of electricity resources.

“The demand and supply gap was widening by the day and there was not a single power station under construction,” the article mentions.

The newspaper drew envisage that the Gwadar East-Bay Expressway will do good as the economic corridor backs Pakistan in its lack of $30 to 35 billion to proceed such working.

“We calculated we needed $30 to 35 billion to fix it, and there was no way Pakistan could generate that kind of money. That’s what prompted us towards the China Pakistan Economic Corridor,” Governor of Sindh, Muhammed Zubair, also one of the architects of the scheme, told The Telegraph.

The article speaks about the China-Pakistan handshake over the entire national economy, where China has committed $62 billion to the initiative in plowing a fine infrastructure plan for the seaport to turn it into a mega transporter to the European countries.

The Telegraphs has hinted at the possibility that CPEC will turn out to raise a massive opportunity in changing the balance of power in Asia; keeping that China is keen to maintain its position among countries neighboring the Arabian Sea – including the setting up of its splinter ports in Myanmar and Sri Lanka to ensure the safety of freight ships.

“The deal goes something like this: Pakistan gets massive and much needed infrastructure investment while China gets access to warm water port 350 miles from the Straits of Hormuz – a key part of its “one belt one road” initiative to develop commercial logistics links with Europe.”

“So I would not question that they have far more objectives than a win-win for China and Pakistan in economic terms. They want to compete with the United States. This gives them the security leverage that they desperately need,” the Governor added who advised the government on tax and economic reform.