Pakistan, Malaysia sign FTA to boost bilateral trade *Agreement to incorporate trade in goods, services, investment and economic cooperation
ISLAMABAD: Pakistan and Malaysia signed a comprehensive Free Trade Agreement (FTA) in Kuala Lumpur Malaysia on Sunday, which would lead to major increase in imports and minor increase in exports, an official at the commerce ministry told Daily Times on Monday.
According to the details it is the first bilateral FTA between two Muslim countries - members of OIC. This agreement will provide a strong foothold to Pakistan in the ASEAN region and help Pakistan achieve summit level partnership with Association South East Asian Nations (ASEAN).
During the Pak-Malaysia Early Harvest period Pakistan has suffered a trade deficit of $2.641 billion during the last four fiscal years 2003-07. The year wise trade deficit was $872.524 million in the last fiscal year 2006-07, $644.523 million deficit in the fiscal year 2005-06, $612.884 million deficit in fiscal year 2004-05 and a deficit of $519.045 million in the fiscal year 2003-04, according to the official data available with Daily Times.
The negotiations with Malaysia on a comprehensive FTA started in early 2005. The Early Harvest was successfully negotiated and signed in December 2005 during the visit of Prime Minister Shaukat Aziz to Malaysia in which both countries provided market access to a limited number of products. After the implementation of the Early Harvest, Pakistan 's negotiating team under the leadership of the Ministry of Commerce and comprising all the stakeholder ministries continued the negotiation to conclude the agreement. (more...)
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Pakistan IT exports to touch $11 billion mark by 2011
ISLAMABAD (January 06 2008): The IT industry of Pakistan with low telecommunication cost, 100 percent ownership of equity and repatriation of the foreign investors profits as well as tax exemption until 2016, has the potential to increase exports from $1.4 to $11 billion by 2011, Business Recorder learnt.
As a result of the government incentive-oriented policy, Pakistan is now emerging as a major player in the global IT market. These initiatives include 100 percent ownership of equity to foreign investors with the incentive to repatriate profits and tax exemption to it companies until 2016. With the overall $2.8 billion IT industry including annual export of about $1.4 billion, Pakistan attracting investment which is likely to touch over $11 billion by 2011.
IT exports in FY 2005-2006, as reported by the State Bank of Pakistan (SBP), were $72.210 million, thus exceeding the target of $72 million. This represents an annual increase of 56 percent as compare to the exports of $46.355 million in FY 2004-2005.
There are about 700 active IT companies in Islamabad , Karachi and Lahore . Other cities are being surveyed, and it is expected that there are around 50 IT companies in other smaller cities and towns. Growth in Islamabad , over the last three years, has been around 300 per cent, Karachi around 180 percent and in Lahore it is around 150 per cent.
The global community has placed Pakistan in the 'First Category' countries in 2007. Previously, in 2006 Pakistan was placed in the 'Third Category' countries. Moreover, Pakistan 's IT revenue had grown to 59 percent in 2006. Similarly, new IT parks in major cities are being set up across the country while 750,000 square feet of space has already been leased out to IT companies for new parks. (more...)
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UAE Group shows interest in IT sector
KARACHI (December 14 2007): Sindh Governor, Dr Ishrat-ul-Ibad Khan has said that land record throughout Sindh is being computerised, while government is paying full attention on promotion of information technology in every field to make its fruits reach the common man.
He was talking to a delegation of UAE's Al_Bawardi Executive Management Team, led by Mansoor Al-Alami at Governor House here Thursday. The delegation showed interest in making investment in the field of Information Technology in Pakistan and particularly in Sindh.
Assuring the delegation of his full cooperation, the Governor pointed to vast opportunities of investment that exist in every sector. There had been an increase in the investment opportunities in every sector because of the government's investment-friendly policies, rules and regulations and infrastructure improvement.
Particularly because of foreign investment in the financial sector and improvement in other related sectors, there had been an increase in the IT related demands, he added.
Pointing out that IT serves as a catalyst for every field, the Governor said Pakistan has rich talented human resource and particularly there is higher ratio of the youth here whose talents are being polished and stress being laid on the attainment of desired objectives. The present government, he informed, strengthened the institutions to ensure continuity of its reforms program and policies. (more...)
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System Limited gets award
KARACHI (December 07 2007): System Limited (SL), the oldest and the largest state-of-art software solution provider in Pakistan has recently received the 'Customer Innovation Award 2007' at the Integration World Conference held at Simi Valley, California, said a press release.
In recognition to the technical expertise, professionalism and innovative development techniques demonstrated by the System Limited team of experts in developing the 'Title Insurance and Settlement Services' platform for Lender First Choice (LFC), Software AG USA honoured Visionet System Inc, a subsidiary of System Limited.-PR (more...)
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PSEB's solution helps auto sector slash costs by 50 pc
Islamabad-Managing Director PSEB (Pakistan Software Export Board) Yusuf Hussain has said that they have designed a software that has brought down cost in the local auto industry by fifty percent. He said that first ever year book having all the details about IT industry in Pakistan would be launched soon and second phase of their successful internship programme is on cards.
He said that our dedicated team has decided to provide maximum IT solutions to the industry in Pakistan to make it competitive in the international market and that sky is the limit for us. Talking exclusively to Pakistan Observer, Yusuf Hussain said that the software called AutoPlus is being distributed free of cost among the local auto parts makers and the PSEB is also imparting training as well as service to this vital sector. PAPAAM (Pakistan Auto Parts Manufacturers Association) representing 300 units across the stretch of country and other stakeholders have lauded the move and are enthusiastic about the whole thing, said Yusuf.
"This is a dramatic improvement that has open new horizons for the local industry and hopes are high as the software is bound to make Pakistan competitive on international level," he added. He lauded the support of Business Support Fund (BSF) and Ministry of Finance who made it possible. SME BSF has approved to provide 50 percent funding for the cost of the implementation. Giving details, he said that PSEB had sponsored four unique member IT companies for the development of Enterprise Resource Planning (ERP) software for Small and Medium Enterprise (SME) units. (more...)
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Irish companies show keen interest in IT projects
ISLAMABAD (November 20 2007): After getting attracted with the rich potential of Pakistan IT industry's outsourcing services, several Irish companies have shown their interest in agreements with local IT companies.
"Six major companies, Softech Systems, MSoft, Efrotech, Esolpk, Invaterra, and Alp Business Service Management, are in contact with the Irish IT companies for signing up projects," a spokesman for the Pakistan Software Export Board (PSEB) said in a statement.
The areas of interest included capital market, payments services for telecom and entertainment industry, web development, and technical capability of managing outsourced testing process, he explained.
The delegation met with the South Dublin Chamber of Commerce and the Irish state development agency, ' Enterprise Ireland '. It also attended networking sessions hosted by Ireland Pakistan Business Council and IT Association of Galway, which has provided a great opportunity for Pak companies to show their expertise and potential.
Pakistan 's Ambassador to Ireland Naghmana Hashmi and Trade Minister Zehra Akbari hosted a reception for the prominent Irish IT companies executives, highlighted the potential of Pakistani IT industry and importance of collaboration between the companies of both the states. (more...)
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WLL subscribers doubled in a year: PTA
ISLAMABAD (January 06 2008): The wireless phones are fast replacing fixed-line telephony as the popular mode of connecting coupled with mobile phones. Based on Pakistan Telecommunication Authority (PTA) figures, as of November 30, the Wireless Local Loop (WLL) have doubled their subscribers in a year.
The wireless users have increased to 2,074,275 in 2007 from 1,027,868 in 2006 against 4,597,279 fixed line phones. On the basis of these figures, it could be safely assumed that wireless connections are set to grow further in the time ahead while fixed line phones have come down from 5,277,546 in 2006 to 4,731,805 in 2007 with major cut to the main operator in the country.
Though, the Pakistan Telecommunication Company Limited (PTCL) has lost its fixed line subscribers, yet it emerged as a big player in wireless phones with 1,213,822 subscribers in 2007 against 661,532 in 2006. However, its fixed line users have reduced to 4,597,279 in 2007 from 5,128,442 in 2006, showing a decline of over half a million. (more...)
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2000 to 2007: cellular industry posts robust growth of 119 percent
KARACHI (January 05 2008): The country's cellular industry has posted a robust growth of 119 percent in terms of subscription during the last seven years from 2000 to 2007, said Mohammed Ali, an economist at the Investment Capital and Securities (Pvt) Ltd on Friday.
He, however, held the absence of direct listing of the prominent cellular operators' in the stock market as major factor that restricted the opportunities for investors to extract financial benefits from their growth. He pointed out that the cellular industry presently grabbing over 74 million subscriptions has witnessed an average addition of more than 2 million subscription ever month during the last two years.
Mobilink is leading the cellular market followed by Ufone- a 100 percent owned cellular subsidiary of the Pakistan Telecommunication Company Limited (PTCL).
The emerging interest in the country's fast growing cellular industry is obvious from the acquisition of Paktel (89 percent shares) by China Mobile -CM Pak at an enterprise value (EV) of $460 million and Warid Telecom (30 percent shares) by Singapore Telecommunication Ltd (Singtel) for EV of $2.9 billion.
The CM Pak's aggressive future strategy on the country's market can be well gauged by its initial launch of $700 million cellular expansion plan, which will be followed by an estimated investment of $400 million a year in Pakistan , Muhammad Ali said. (more...)
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Warid crosses 10 million subscribers mark
ISLAMABAD (January 09 2008): Warid Telecom has crossed the 10 million subscribers mark in the country. The company has invested over $150 million (Shs255 billion) into its operations and plans to take its total investment in network, services delivery and manpower to over $400 million (Shs680 billion) before 2010.
The company is simultaneously rolling out its network in Congo Brazzaville and also scheduled to be launched by April this year. In 2005, Warid also launched its telecommunication services in Pakistan using the same brand name. Within about three months of its launch Warid Pakistan claims to have attracted more than 1 million service users, a private channel reported.
Warid Telecom next week, plans to unveil the company to the public through a live feed on television. In September last year, Warid one of the three new telecommunication players tested the effectiveness of its network and announced the commercial launch anytime.
The company officials said, it would launch its services as soon as the entire infrastructure is ready. Telecommunication market analysts have predicted the prices of telecommunication services to dive further from the current level once Warid and other Telecom giants start their commercial operations this year. (more...)
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PTA to start 3-G mobile phone licensing this year
ISLAMABAD (February 07 2008): The Pakistan Telecommunication Authority (PTA) will start 3-G mobile phone licensing process this year, hoping that these modern services would be available in the country by 2009. For this purpose, auction of the spectrum would be carried out this year and licences would be awarded through competitive bidding.
The 3rd-generation mobile services will enable consumers to use Internet with high speed, make video calls and other value-added data services. Pakistan has now 77 million mobile phone subscribers, 2.1 million Wireless Local Loop (WLL) and 4.7 million fixed line consumers. (more...)
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