Pages: 03 profit.com.pk Thursday, 02 February, 2012

Consolidation continues as indexgains 55 points Page 03

ISLAMABAD

AMER SIAL

GOvERnMEnT received astrong rebuke from thenational Assembly StandingCommittee on Petroleum on

Wednesday which unanimously passed aresolution condemning the massive hikein petroleum products and demanded itsimmediate withdrawal as it could createlaw and order situation in the country. The committee also took the managementof state owned Oil and Gas DevelopmentCompany Limited (OGDCL) to task oncorrupt practices and ordered its topmandarins to leave the meeting as theyattempted to conceal facts by invokingconfidentiality on audit paras. ChairmanSardar Talib hassan nakai chaired themeeting which expressed seriousapprehension on the blatant increase in

POL prices and observed that thegovernment’s apathetic action has madethe lives of people miserable. Thecommittee feared that if the governmentdid not immediately withdraw the hike, itwill jeopardise the economy and createlaw and order situation in the country.Addressing a press conference after themeeting, nakai said they will also raise theissue on the floor of the house. he said thegovernment has not bothered to takecommittee into confidence on the increasein POL prices as it tried to create amisimpression that the committee was onboard. he said they never recommendedany increase in POL prices as the peoplewere already under stress due to inflation.nakai regretted that he had twice writtenletters to the Prime Minister seeking timeto inform him about the sorry state ofaffairs in the state owned oil and gassector but the premier had even not

bothered to reply to the chairman of thecommittee of the national Assembly.Earlier chairing the meeting, nakai askedthe OGDCL management why they haveclaimed that the internal inquiry reportssought on seven audit paras for threefiscal years of 2003-04, 2004-05, and2007-08 were confidential and could notbe provided to the members. Acting MDOGDCL Basharat Mirza replied that theydid not prepare sets of the confidentialreports but if the members insist would beprovided during the meeting. however,Barjees Tahir of PML-n said there was noissue of confidentiality as these were auditirregularities. he said OGDCLmanagement should either provide thedocuments or there was no use of holdingthe meeting if they were not ready toanswer. Seconding him Shahnaz Sheikh ofPML-Q said that the committee shouldprotest on this kind of non serious attitude

of the officials. Details were sought onunnecessary purchase of chemical worthRs 55.1 million and loss of Rs 5.6 millionon account of its sale below cost price, lossof Rs 10.1 million due to negligence ofEnar Petrotech Services in execution ofthe Kunnar LPG project, irregular hiringof a consultant in violation of board’sdecision on Rs 280,000, appointment of22 officers without observing codalformalities which caused loss of Rs 65.1million, loss due to procurement ofdefective man portable drill 30 meterworth Rs 49.6 million, irregularappointment of executive director humanresource Rs 16.8 million, irregularappointment of part-time consultant andpayment of remuneration of Rs 4.8million. Castigating the non professionalapproach of mandarins, Donya Aziz ofPML-Q said the committee has power ofcourt and demanded action against the

acting MD OGDCL for having made airresponsible statement. nakai said thenon serious attitude of top officials wastotally unacceptable and action had to betaken against them to establish supremacyof parliament. Barjees Tahir demandedthat who so ever had drafted the note thatdue to confidentiality details could not beshared, action should be taken againsthim. he demanded that the acting MDOGDCL should be asked to leave themeeting as he was willfully attempting toconceal facts from the committee.Intervening Additional Secretary Ministryof Petroleum naeem Malik said that therewas no issue of confidentiality in theinquiry reports and assured thecommittee that the ministry will hold aninquiry to ascertain who was responsiblefor hiding facts. The committee directedhim to hold inquiry and action withinthree days against the responsible.

LAHORE

ALI HAIDER RIZVI

ThE Council for Trade in Goodsof the World Trade Organisa-tion at its meeting in Geneva onWednesday unanimously ap-

proved a Pakistan-specific EU trade pack-age (Autonomous Trade Preferences)which would allow tariff-free export of 75Pakistani products to European Unionmarkets over the next two years. The longawaited trade deal between Pakistan andthe European Union has faced delays overobjections raised by India andBangladesh among other countries.

A foreign office statement said thepackage will enter into force after it is for-mally approved by the WTO GeneralCouncil in March this year.

In recognition of Pakistan’s sacrificesagainst extremism and Al-Qaeda, takinginto account the economic losses suffereddue to terrorism and devastating floods in2010 the EU leadership decided to givePakistan specific tariff concessions in theform of autonomous trade preferencesunder which 75 Pakistani products wouldbenefit from duty free access to the Euro-pean Markets. These Trade Concessionshowever required a WTO waiver. The EUapplied for the WTO waiver in January2011. The waiver request enjoyed the sup-port of 150 of the 152 members of WTO.India out rightly opposed it andBangladesh expressed certain reserva-tions demanding compensation.

“This is wonderful news for Pak-istan and will augur well for the coun-try. The approval of the Pak-EU tradedeal demonstrates the growing Pak-EUrelations and is evidence of EU supportfor the economy. This trade facility willhave a long term positive impact ontrade between Pakistan and the EU,”Pakistan’s ambassador to Belgium,Luxembourg and the European Union,Jalil Abbas Jillani said while exclu-sively talking to Profit.

This trade deal would help boost ex-ports by $300 million. The foreign officeand the government had been working to-wards creasing out differences to securethe EU preferential trade deal. In an ear-lier exclusive report by Pakistan Today,sources pointed out that “the issue of theremoval of Indian objection from the EUunilateral trade concession was first takenup by Prime Minister Yousaf Raza Gilaniat Mohali, in his meeting with the Indian

Prime Minister Manmohan Singh duringthe ICC World Cup Semi Final.” In thelast meeting of the WTO committee fortrade in goods, Bangladesh had objectedto the deal however upon investigation inan exclusive report filed earlier, sourcespointed out that it was a ‘miscommunica-tion’ and the trade package would cer-tainly go through in February.

Official sources in the Ministry ofCommerce while talking to Profit haverevealed that on the 14th of this month,the matter would be discussed at theGeneral Council of the WTO that will ap-prove the package. After that, the matterwill be discussed involving a trialogue ofthe EU Commission, the EU council andthe EU parliament to discuss the imple-mentation process. Jillani explained thatthe European Union member states fol-lowing an internal debate gave their col-lective approval for this trade packagelast year. It was only after the approvalthat a European commission was autho-rised to apply to the WTO for a waiver.In the WTO, all 27 EU member statesspeak with one voice represented by asingle EU ambassador he said. In replyto whether these concessions were beingsought in a permanent capacity or ifthere was a timeline for these conces-sions, Ambassador Jillani said that theseconcessions would only be temporaryand are intended for a 2-3 year period asa bridging mechanism till 2014. This isdue to the fact that in 2014 a new GSPscheme would come into effect wherePakistan would be well placed to benefitfrom duty free treatment under GSP Plusfor a much larger number of products.

While talking about how the reces-sion in Europe would affect Pakistan’s ex-ports to Europe after the duty free accessfor 75 products, Ambassador Jilani saidthere is little likelihood of such an impact.This is because the maximum impact ofEuropean austerity would naturally be onthe consumption and import of luxuryand higher end products. Since the im-ports from Pakistan do not fall in this cat-egory therefore Pakistan’s exports to theEU are not expected to be adversely af-fected. “Pakistan is thankful to all WTOmember countries for their support. Thegovernment of Pakistan particularly ap-preciates the European Union and itsmember states for their commitment tohelp Pakistan revive and stabilise its econ-omy through trade,” the foreign officesaid in a statement.

Pakistan finally secures preferential trade deal with EUg 75 Pakistani products to enjoy duty free access to European markets for the next 2 years g Textile exports expected to increase significantly as a result of this landmark trade deal

NA panel demands immediate withdrawal of new prices

KARACHI

GHULAM ABBAS

Terming the deal a majorbreakthrough for the country’sexports, Tariq Puri, ChiefExecutive of TradeDevelopment Authority ofPakistan (TDAP) saidgovernment’s strategy forseeking trade not aid succeededon Wednesday. “This is the firstachievement and importantachievement of the governmentto diversify and expand tradethrough getting market accessto European Union”, he said.After the achievement, TDAPwould support exporters of the75 items through creatingmarket awareness. Theauthority, he claimed, wouldhighlight the importance of EUmarket and facilitate exporters.The objecting countries, mainlyIndia and Bangladesh, werealso convinced by thegovernment during the last twoyears, since the draft proposalwas forwarded to WTO in2010. According to sources, the

antagonistic countries had alsodropped their objections afterEU had amended the scheme touse tariff rate quotas (TRQs) on20 products, sources said.Availing the facility, sourcessaid, the country would notonly be able expand its exportsbut also save the exports oftextile items from further drop.The duty waiver would affectPakistan’s export products,including textiles, leather andothers. Welcoming the move,Mohsin Aziz, Chairman AllPakistan Textile MillsAssociation (APTMA) said the64 textile items would benefit.The market access and dutyrelaxation would definitelyhelp expand exports this year,which were feared to dropdrastically owing to themassive energy crisis.APTMA, he said, had writtenmultiple letters andreminders to the concernedauthorities to speed up effortsfor convincing the objectingcountries for the packageapproval at WTO.

TDAP, ATMA laud dealISLAMABAD

AMER SIAL

In a major break through,Pakistan managed to get aunanimous approval from theWorld Trade Organization on aunilateral European Union (EU)trade package which will allowtariff-free export of 75 Pakistaniproducts to 27 member block’smarkets over the next two years.An official statement issued byCommerce Minister said thepackage will enter into forceafter it is formally approved bythe WTO General Council inMarch this year. The productsinclude certain textile products,leather goods and ethanol.Pakistan has thanked all WTOmember countries for theirsupport. The governmentparticularly appreciates the EUand its member states for theircommitment to help Pakistanrevive and stabilise its economythrough trade. A meeting of theCouncil for Trade in Goods ofWTO on Wednesday in Genevaunanimously approved a

Pakistan-specific EU tradepackage. The EU tradeconcessions are aimed athelping Pakistan to deal witheconomic losses caused by theunprecedented floods inPakistan in 2010. The packagewill help increase Pakistanexports to EU countries andgenerate thousands of jobs inthe country. Pakistan has madeimmense diplomatic efforts forEU concessions and passage ofWTO waiver. President andPrime Minister during thePakistan-EU summits held in2010 and 2011 in Brusselsunderlined the need for thecountry’s enhanced marketaccess to EU as part ofgovernment’s strategy of “tradenot aid”. Prime Minister wroteto his counterpart in Bangladeshseeking their support for WTOwaiver. Commerce Ministerwrote to his counterparts inseveral countries making a casefor Pakistan by elaborating howthe proposed concessions willnot adversely impact their vitalinterests in the EU.

Bearing fruits of diplomatic efforts

Pakistan’s

ambassador to

Belgium, Luxembourg

and the European

Union Jalil Abbas Jilani

with President of the

European Council

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news02Thursday, 02 February, 2012

LAHORE

STAFF REPORT

ALL Pakistan Textile Mills Association(APTMA) Chairman Mohsin Aziz haswelcomed the Economic CoordinationCommittee (ECC) decision of supporting

the free market mechanism and let market forcesdefine the prices of cotton in the country.It may be noted that the Pakistan Cotton GinnersAssociation (PCGA) had urged the Prime Ministerto ask the Trading Corporation of Pakistan (TCP) tointervene the free market mechanism and buy onemillion bales of cotton lint at Rs6500/bale to bailout farmers.however, APTMA had opposed any suchintervention, unbalancing the cotton pricemechanism. The ECC was informed that only a

small stock of cotton, that is less than 10 per cent, islying with the growers and any intervention at thisstage would neither be prudent for cotton marketnot would benefit the growers. Accordingly, the ECCdeclined to the PCGA request in its latest meeting.Mohsin appreciated the ECC for a prudent decisionof discouraging a few opportunists, misguiding thegovernment under the garb of cotton growers. hesaid the APTMA has never been against the benefitof cotton growers but it does not imply that anyonewould be allowed to exploit the government bymisstating the facts.he said APTMA took a principled stand, based onfacts that no one would be allowed to keep textileindustry hostage under the garb of cotton growers.he said only a few hoarders tried to brinkmanshipand failed at the end of the day. he said thesehoarders had built up cotton stocks during floods

on the presumption that Pakistan would be short ofcotton. however, Pakistan remained safe fromcotton shortage by the grace of Allah and samequarters started pressurizing the government underthe garb of cotton growers.he has appreciated the Textile Minister MakhdoomShahab-ud-Din for lending a patient hearing andweighing the arguments of APTMA in favour of freemarket mechanism and deciding the matter onmerit.Chairman APTMA has also appreciated the ECC forunderstanding the APTMA viewpoint on freemarket mechanism and discouraging theunscrupulous elements. he has further expressedthe hope that similar prudency would dominategovernment circles regarding energy supply totextile industry on priority for more exports, foreignexchange and jobs in the country.

Chairman APTMA welcomes ECC decision

ISLAMABAD

AMER SIAL

PETROLEUM Minister DrAsim hussain onWednesday told the USenvoy Cameron Munter

that Pakistan needs urgent steps tomeet its rising energy requirementsand for this purpose all optionswould be availed.An official source said that the USAmbassador had called upon theminister to get a latest update on theoil and gas sector developments inPakistan to brief its state department.Pakistan has been under increasingUS pressure to disassociate itselffrom the proposed gas pipeline from

Iran, which both the countries haveagreed to complete by December2014. however, the PetroleumMinister has been consistentlydenying that there was no USpressure on the IP gas pipeline.Pakistan has maintained the stancethat the US sanctions on Iran and theIP gas pipeline projects were twoseparate issues. As the US pressure ison the rise against importing gasfrom Iran, Pakistan has sought helpin exploiting of the shale gas reservesthrough the investment of UScompanies. nearly all majorinternational oil and gas explorationcompanies were operating in thecountry except US giants.The source said the US envoy was

given a detail presentation of the oiland gas sector, including themeasures to address the shortagesand new petroleum exploration andproduction policy. Comments of USwere also invited on the new policy astheir input help attract US companiesinvestment. Pakistan is seeking USinvestment especially in the shale gasexploration. An official statement said theminister informed the US envoy thatthe government was working onvarious solutions to provide relief toconsumers. he said the ministry wasalways open to tangible options bothfor long term and short term projects.he said that the government wasbrining new petroleum exploration

and production policy, in whichattractive investment options havebeen incorporated. he expressed thehope that US oil and gas companieswould invest under the new policy.he said the misconceptions need tobe clarified and communicationbetween the two governments shouldbe a regular feature.US Ambassador said United Stateswants to help Pakistan in resolvingenergy crisis. Secretary PetroleumMuhammad Ejaz Chaudhry apprisedthe ambassador about on-goingprojects. he appreciated the helpextended by US in the energy sectorand emphasized that transfer oftechnology between the two countriesis imperative.

Commercial Counselorbullish about Pak-US ties

LAHORE

STAFF REPORT

US Commercial Counselor BrianMcCleary said Wednesday that hewas very bullish about future of

Pak-US bilateral relations. Addressing theExecutive Committee Members of AmericanBusiness Forum (ABF), he expressed stronghope for a healthy bilateral relation ofPakistan and US. “The future of Pakistanand US bilateral relations lies in commerceand trade and I am here to promote it,” heasserted. Earlier, Acting President ABFIbrahim Qureshi welcomed the US envoyand briefed him about the ABF, itsobjectives and future plans. Mrs Ayeshahamid, honourary Secretary ABF besidesother ABF EC members including YounisKamran, Afsar Mahmood and Sohail Yousafwere also present on the occasion. The USenvoy said Pakistan has developed viablecommercial centres including Karachi,Lahore and Islamabad with huge labourforce and traditionally sound entrepreneurs.According to him, both terrorism andsecurity issues are yet hampering theeconomic growth here but Pakistan wouldbe a potential destination for energy,technology, health, education, travel andtourism with more structural economicreforms and best entrepreneur practicesahead. he said Pakistan is the sixth largestpopulation of world with growing number ofconsumers, workforce and entrepreneurs.he assured of full facilitation through hisoffice in trade expansion, exchange of tradedelegations and business opportunities. hesaid a technology conference is also due inthe month of May.

Inflation back to double digits

KARACHI

STAFF REPORT

ThE month of January saw ConsumerPrice Index (CPI) inflation standingat 10.1 per cent compared to the

single-digit 9.75 per cent of the precedingmonth, December 2011. On Month-on-Month basis, after subdued numbers for thepervious two months, the inflation onceagain jumped above one per cent to stand at1.5 per cent. During the 7th month ofcurrent fiscal year (7MFY12), averageinflation clocked at 10.8 per cent against14.3 per cent in the corresponding periodlast year. “Awaiting the complete break-upof the numbers, our initial assessmentsuggests that the uptick in the number is onaccount of increase in the food and energyitems (higher oil prices and gas prices)related head,” said nauman Khan of ToplineResearch. With base effect fading away, theinflation was estimated to remain in thedouble digits for the rest of the yearespecially after, first, the government’sdecision to pass on the impact of higher oilprices to final consumer and its indirecteffect on other heads, second, hike of the gastariff (CnG) and, third, the effects of rupee’sdepreciation on commodity prices, theanalyst said. “Despite high monthly inflationnumbers, we estimate average FY12inflation would fall below the governmentand central bank initial assessment of a 12per cent,” he addeed.

ISLAMABAD

STAFF REPORT

SECURITIES and Exchange Com-mission of Pakistan (SECP) hasintroduced a regulatory frame-work for implementation of anti-

money laundering (AML) andcounter-financing terrorism (CFT) regimein the capital market of the country. Itplaces ample focus on effective customerdue diligence, know your customer policiesand seeks to remove deficiencies in the cur-rent system for ensuring adherence to thebest international practices in the broker-age business. SECP has already introducedsimilar legal framework for the mutualfund industry and insurance sector.

Over the recent years, there has beenan increasing focus by the international

community towards formulation of a fi-nancial system that efficiently countersrisks of money laundering and terrorist fi-nancing. The Financial Action Task Force(FATF) being an inter-governmental bodyis entrusted with the responsibility of de-veloping and promoting policies to combatmoney laundering and terrorist financing.The 40+9 recommendations of the taskforce form the basis for effective AML/CFTframework across jurisdictions and areused as a yardstick to evaluate complianceof countries with the AML regime.

The recent amendments approved bySECP to the General Regulations of theKarachi Stock Exchange make it mandatoryfor brokers to comply with the AML/CFTguidelines issued by the regulator. Theguidelines are based on the FATF recom-mendations and cater for significant areas

such as customer identification, customerprofiling, ongoing due diligence, risk as-sessment, enhanced due diligence for highrisk customers, requirements relating topolitically exposed persons and staff train-ing/screening etc. The guidelines requirebrokers to ensure identification of actualbeneficial owner of an account, conduct riskassessment, monitor transactions executedand detect any unusual activity that doesnot correspond to the profile and expectedtrading pattern of the customer.

The introduction of this frameworkwill not only assist in improving Pakistan’soutlook through increased compliance withthe AML and CFT standards set interna-tionally but will also complement the ob-jective of creating a general culture ofdocumentation in our economy operationsto promote transparency and disclosure.

Traders,industrialists protestPOL, CNG price hikeKARACHI

STAFF REPORT

Trade and industry has rejected theincrease in prices of POL and new taximposed on CnG by the governmentopening another floodgate of pricespiral. The Patron In-Chief KorangiAssociation of Trade and Industry(KATI), S M Muneer, ChairmanEhteshamuddin, vice Chairmen,hasham A Razzak ,Tariq Malik andformer Chairman, Mian Zahid hussainwhile strongly protesting over thegovernment decision to arbitrarily raisepetroleum prices and imposition ofsurcharge on CnG up to 10 per cent.They said that present government hasalready broken the backbone of theindustry and the general public byincreasing POL and gas prices besidesraising electricity tariff frequentlyinstead of lowering its lavish spendingon non-developmental expenditures.The industry representatives furthersaid that Prime Minister has recentlymade it clear that government hasnothing to do with the price fluctuationof POL and it was OGRA which makesdecisions as per price fluctuationinternationally but the OGRA hasclarified that its role was only torecommend in price change and thegovernment decides to increasepetroleum or gas prices. They said thatgovernment is making a mockery of thepeople of Pakistan and cruellyimposing taxes and levies on themwhich are unbearable. They demandedof the government to immediatelyreverse its decision to increase POLprices and surcharge on CnG and try tofind out avenues of revenue generation.

SECP introduces anti-money laundering,counter-financing of terrorism regime

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news

Thursday, 02 February, 2012

03

CORPORATE CORNER

DuPont and ICI sign commercialdeal on Corian high-tech surface

KArAchI: DuPont, a leading innovationand market-driven science company hasannounced signing of a distributionagreement with ICI Pakistan Limited. Underthe agreement, ICI Pakistan will market anddistribute in Pakistan DuPont™ Corian®solid surface, world-class quality materialfor interior design and architecturalapplications. The collaboration will drawsynergies from both the companies to buildon the local needs with trusted ICIdistribution network and innovativesolutions from DuPont. PRESS RELEASE

Bahria University holdsSpring 2012 Orientation SessionToday, Bahria University Islamabad campus isholding its orientation session for its fresh batchof Spring 2012 .The session will be conductedfor two days i.e for 2nd and 3rd Feb 2012.During these two days the students will befamiliarised with the environment of theuniversity and briefed on the rules andregulations. The students will be acquaintedwith the workings of the university; itsexamination process, academic policies, co-curricular activities and the general rules whichthe students are expected to abide by. TheDirector Campus along with his heads ofDepartments will address the students. After thebriefing session, they will be taken on a tour ofthe campus including the library, academic

blocks, gymnasium, cafeterias and otherprominent places. PRESS RELEASE

Dubai Islamic Bank opens its firstLearning & Development Center

KArAchI: Dubai Islamic Bank Pakistan openedits first Learning & Development Center dedicatedto Islamic Banking today at Karachi city. Thecenter was formally inaugurated by the CEO Mr.Junaid Ahmed along with the senior managementof the Bank. Mr. Junaid Ahmed stated that withthe establishment of this Learning & DevelopmentCenter and the ongoing initiative to expand ourbranch network throughout Pakistan, thereremains no doubt of Dubai Islamic Bank’s clearintentions and long term commitment to stay inPakistan. he told the invited press that the Bank’smanagement and its shareholders had nointentions of divesting any portion of its equity tothe local investors. he shunned all such rumorson this subject and said the main shareholderDubai Islamic Bank UAE is committed towardsPakistan and supports the Banks rapid expansionprogram for the next five years and beyond. healso said that Pakistan has plenty of room for thegrowth of the Islamic Banking Industry as there isa major gap between the conventional and IslamicBanking market share. PRESS RELEASE

Cathay Pacific upgradingto a new reservations systemKArAchI: Cathay Pacific Airways will changeover to a new passenger reservations system the

weekend of 11 and 12 February. The newtechnology will replace an in-house systemintroduced in the 1980s. This will ensure CathayPacific can continue to meet passengers’ needs inthe future. During the transition, it will benecessary for the airline to temporarily suspendcertain customer facing technology. This includesCathay Pacific’s Web site, www.cathaypacific.com, andits mobile sites. The airline’s flight schedule over theweekend, however, will be unaffected by thechangeover. Cathay Pacific Chief Operating Officer IvanChu said: “Our current system has served us well.however, just as we upgrade the products and servicesour customers can see and touch, we must also updateour technology behind the scenes so that we cansupport the continued growth of our airline and theexpanding expectations of our customers.” The newAltéa reservation and inventory system is provided byAmadeus, the same reservations system used by themajority of oneworld alliance carriers. Cathay Pacific isa founding member of oneworld. PRESS RELEASE

United States working to reduceenergy shortages in Pakistan

LAhore: United States is strengtheningPakistan’s energy sector and helping to end theenergy crisis. In this effort, Deputy DirectorUSAID Punjab, Gail Spence, launched a humanresource management workshop at the LahoreUniversity of ManagementSciences(LUMS) today.The USAID Power Distribution Program (PDIP)organized the trainingfor the nine power sectordistribution companies (DISCOs) and theDepartment of Business Management Studies,LUMS designed the three-day program. Thethree-year long USAID Power Distribution

Program’s mission is to reduce energy losses,increase revenue, improve customer service, andtransform distribution companies to efficientutilities. “Effective organizations around theworld make human resource management apriority, use a structured strategic planningprocess to identify their business priorities, anduse innovative hR management techniques toimplement key policies and intelligent solutions,”Ms. Gail Spence remarked. PRESS RELEASE

Safeguard and Design for Changeexhibit 35 winning stories of change KArAchI: Safeguard and Design for Change(DFC) Pakistan today exhibited 35 winningstories, at the Arts Council of Pakistan inKarachi. These stories were submitted byPakistani children who acted as change agentsand future leaders of the country. The globalDFC School Challenge 2011 which was initiatedin September is the world’s largest movementfor change initiated by children. In Pakistan,DFC partnered with Safeguard to take thisprogram throughout the nation with over35,000 children being reached in over 7000schools. Speaking at the occasion, Adeel Ahmed,Brand Manager, Safeguard Pakistan said, "We atSafeguard are thrilled to partner with Design forChange. The main aim of this collaboration is toenhance the creativity of children and bring outtheir best potential to contribute in nationbuilding. PRESS RELEASE

Honda Atlas Cars (Pakistan)Limited commences its productionhonda Atlas Cars (Pakistan) Limited is all set torestart production at its plant in Manga Mandi,Lahore, by the end of Feb 2012. The production athonda factory in Pakistan was halted in theaftermath of catastrophic floods that hit Thailanda few months back. honda Atlas Cars (Pakistan)Limited will commence production of honda Civicby the end of this month and the production ofhonda City will follow shortly. PRESS RELEASE

Consolidation continues as index gains 55 pointsKARACHI

STAFF REPORT

C OnSOLIDATIOn continued atlocal bourse with constricted vol-umes as fertiliser sector drew

greater investor participation. Accumu-lation is likely to persist in near termuntil the breakout level of 12,200 levelsto pave the way for the bulls. Earningsseason is almost half way through as itwas time for bellwether stocks from At-tock group to declare interim results.

Despite attractive results and payout,the rally was cut short owing to profit tak-ing. Accumulation in DGKC landed thestock amongst the top ten volume leadingstocks whilst the three most traded stocks

represented more than 1/3rd of the totalturnover. A toned down CPI numbers at10.1 per cent Y/Y for Jan’12 may persuadethe monetary authorities for a last ratecut of FY12 in upcoming MPS, a likely

propellant for breakout, said Salman vid-hani, Senior Analyst at hMFS. The KSE100 index closed at 11930.55 levels withthe gain of 55.66 points, while KSE 30index bagged 48.79 points to close at

11221.73 levels. All Share index closed at8265.16 levels after gaining 39.19points. Total 131 scrips advanced 100declined and 80 remain unchanged outof total 311 scrips traded.

ICCI slams 6pc hike in POL pricesISLAMABAD: Islamabad Chamber ofCommerce and Industry (ICCI) stronglycriticised the massive raise in petroleumproducts, saying that it would hit trade andindustry besides increasing inflation. Rejectingthe unjust increase in the petroleum prices,President ICCI Yassar Sakhi Butt, urged thegovernment to withdraw as it would affect allsegments of society. he said it was the secondmajor hike in POL prices in just one month.he said that the current increase would havedevastating impact on the industrial sector ascost of raw materials and transportation ofgoods would increase manifold. he expressedconcern on sluggish production activities inthe industrial sector due to power loadshedding. he stressed that the governmentmust device a proper mechanism to meet theenergy demand. STAFF REPORT

PSQCA tests sugar of uncertified mills

KARACHI

GHULAM ABBAS

POWERFUL sugarmillers in the countrywho successfully con-vinced the governmentto allow export of sugar

recently have also got their productsapproved by Pakistan Standards andQuality Control Authority (PSQCA),without going through license and cer-tification process.

PSQCA, the only government in-stitution to approve the standard andquality of at least 78 compulsoryitems, has bowed down before Pak-istan Sugar Mills Association (PSMA)which has not recognised the certifi-

cates, posting a question mark overthe importance and worth of the au-thority. Though the samples of refinedwhite sugar has not been referred toPSQCA by PSMA itself, the productsof over a dozen mills forwarded byTrading Corporation of Pakistan(TCP) for lab test have been approvedby the authority recently despite of thefact that certification and licensingmatter was in court as PSMA had ob-tained a court’s stay.

Issues related to PSQCA mark-ing fee, procedure for implementa-tion of standards and specificationsof sugar were currently being con-tested in the court by both partiesPSQCA and PSMA. however, officialsources at PSQCA claimed that thecertification was a different processwhile the authority was to test thequality and standard of any productforwarded to it. Interestingly, PSQCAin a letter sent to TCP dated novem-

ber 11,2011 has requested the corpo-ration to ensure the that the refinedand white sugar is purchased fromthe valid licencee of the authority andpurchased quantity of product mustbe in compliance to Standard MarkPS:1822:2007 in addition t otherquality parameters of PSQCA. Ac-cording to sources PSQCA earlierwas reluctant to test and approve theproducts of the local sugar mills as asingle mill out of 84 producing sugarin the country had not the PSQCA li-cence. The authority as per govern-ment rules was inspecting the qualityof imported sugars.

however, under the immensepressure of powerful sugar millerssome of them enjoying are enjoyingimportant positions in both govern-ment and opposition parties, PSQCAwas not only making lab test of the lo-cally produced refined and white sugarbut also inspecting the polypropylene

bags with an inner polythene liningmandatory for sugar packing underthe government rules.

According to a recently releasedstatement of TCP, all mills were vis-ited /inspected by its surveyors out ofwhich lab test reports of 10 millswere received from PSQCA. The au-thority, which has left simply a rub-ber-stamp organisation was evenunable to implement the SRO(1)/2008 which says under the pow-ers conferred by section 14 of PSQCAAct 1996(vI of 1996) the federal gov-ernment in consultation with the au-thority is pleased to prohibit, witheffect from the January 1, 2009 themanufacture, keeping in stock andthe sale of the article specified in col-umn (2) of the schedule below whichdo not conform to the Pakistan Stan-dard. Under the SRO, almost 20kitchen items including refined sugarand white sugar were enlisted.

g Millers get products approved by PSQCA without authority’s certificatesg TCP receives over 10 lab test reports from the authority for sugar procurement

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