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Thursday, 13 December, 2012 ANKARA APP P AKISTAN and Turkey Tuesday agreed on early implementation of the joint projects, encouraging private sector of the two countries and creating facilitative trade mechanisms and opportunities for the businessmen to fully utilise the true trade potential and further deepen bilat- eral commercial and investment ties. President Asif Ali Zardari stressed the need of translating the excellent po- litical relations between the two coun- tries into a strong and long term economic bond to the mutual benefit of the people of the two countries. President Zardari said this during his separate bilateral meetings with Turkish President Abdullah Gul and Turkish Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan on the sidelines of the 7th Tri- lateral Summit of Afghanistan-Pakistan and Turkey, a statement from the Presi- dent House said. President Zardari held wide-ranging discussions with the Turkish leadership on bilateral, regional and international issues, peace process in Afghanistan and the situation in Middle East. Discussing bilateral relations, Zardari stressed the need for early finalisation of Pakistan-Turkey Preferential Trade Agreement, which he said would help boost trade ties and achieving the mutu- ally agreed trade target of $ 2 billion. He termed the recent suggestion from the Turkish side to include mutual concessions within the ambit of the PTA as a positive step and expressed the hope that next round of PTA discussions would be held soon after the exchange of revised request list covering major tex- tile products, being affected by the Turk- ish safeguard duties and extra tariffs. The president invited Turkish in- vestment and joint ventures in key sec- tors such as infrastructure, housing, en- gineering, energy, agriculture, telecom- munications and mining and said that it was encouraging that private sectors of the two countries are collaborating in the energy, construction, food process- ing and rubber industries. He also welcomed Turkish invest- ment in hydro-power generation and al- ternative energy. The president expressed the hope that Gul Train Project would revolu- tionise cargo and transit facilities be- tween the two countries and urged for early finalisation of border crossing for- malities, harmonising customs proce- dures and generating cargo by larger involvement of the private sector. The president said that Pakistan was keenly interested in the project and thanked Turkish prime minister and President Gul for their personal interest in Gul Train Project. The president thanked Turkish prime minister for his participation in the D-8 Summit held last month in Is- lamabad and expressed the confidence that summit, with its distinct trade pro- motion focus, would further energise economic and commercial ties within the D-8 family. The summit, he said would go a long way in confronting common chal- lenges faced by the D-8 community, es- pecially achieving food security, mitigating the impact of natural disas- ters and countering all forms of ex- tremism which undermine economic progress and negatively affect the livelihood of our peoples. The president appreciated the Turk- ish leadership for hosting the trilateral Summit of Afghanistan-Pakistan and Turkey for the seventh time and said that Turkey was a trusted friend of both Afghanistan and Pakistan, adding that all the three countries shared the objec- tive of peace and stability in Afghanistan and in the wider region. Pakistan, Turkey agree on early implementation of joint projects ISLAMABAD ONLINE Alex Thier, assistant to the USAID Admin- istrator, Wednesday, said that the US gov- ernment had announced to help 45,000 farmers in the fruit, vegetable, dairy, and livestock sectors increase their profits. Ac- cording to Alex the training and moderni- sation supported by USAID will enable small farmers to deliver higher quality products and increase their profits. “These programmes would increase incomes and create jobs for farmers, agri- cultural sector processors, and ex- porters,” said Alex Thier at a meeting of NGOs working with USAID on this initia- tive. Farmers would work with US-funded non-governmental organisations (NGOs) to form over 3,000 small farmers’ groups and will receive specialised training to improve their products and sales. Twelve Pakistani NGOs signed coop- erative agreements with the US Agency for International Development’s (USAID) Agribusiness Project today in Islamabad to provide training to farmers. Pakistan’s fruit, vegetable, dairy, and meat farmers have great potential, but many small agriculture-based businesses lack the tools to deliver the quality, vari- ety, and quantity of goods that local and international markets demand. The twelve Pakistani NGOs helping rural farm communities include the Aga Khan Rural Support Program, the Na- tional Rural Support Programme, the Sarhad Rural Support Program, the Soci- ety for Human and Natural Resources Development (Lasoona), the Hashoo Foundation, the Punjab Rural Support Program, the Rural Community Develop- ment Society, the Jinnah Welfare Soci- ety, the Roshni Development Organisation, the Sindh Agricultural Forestry Workers Coordinating Organisa- tion, the Taraqee Foundation, and the World Wide Fund for Nature. The Agribusiness Project is one of the many initiatives that the United States and Pakistan are carrying out together to create jobs and increase incomes. The United States and Pakistan are expanding irrigation by 200,000 acres to spur agricultural activity near the Gomal Zam and Satpara dams; constructing more than 1,000 km of roads to connect communities and facilitate trade; mod- ernising dairy farms in Punjab; and launching investment funds that will pro- vide capital to help small and medium businesses grow. US helping small farm businesses increase profits ISLAMABAD APP Pakistan services trade balance wit- nessed a surplus of $43.86 million during first four months of current fi- nancial year July-October (2012-13). The overall trade deficit during the period under review also narrowed by 104.6 percent as compared to same pe- riod of last year as its exports surged by 53.4 percent with imports showing neg- ative growth of 3.96 percent during first four months of the current fiscal year. The services’ exports from the country were recorded at $2.563 bil- lion during July-October (2011-12) against the exports of $1.671 billion during July-October (2010-11), show- ing growth of 53.4 percent, according to the data of Pakistan Bureau of Sta- tistic (PBS). On the other hand, the imports of services into the country during first four months of current year decreased by 3.96 percent by going down from last years imports of $2.623 billion to $2.519 billion, the data revealed. Based on this data, the services trade witnessed surplus which was recorded at $43.86 million during the period under review against the deficit of $952.46 million during last year. The services exports, however, de- creased by 7.81 percent and imports were increased by 1.65 percent during the month of October as compared to same month of last year. The exports of services during Oc- tober 2012 were recorded at $443.48 million against the ex- ports of $481.04 million in October 2011 while imports during October 2012 stood at $699.32 million against the imports of $687.94 million during same month of last year. As compared to the exports of $312.1 million during September 2012, the exports during October 2012 increased by 42.1 percent, while, as compared to the imports of $628.99 million in September 2012, the im- ports of services during October 2012 increased by 11.18 percent. Oil prices higher in Asian trade SINGAPORE AGENCIES World oil prices extended gains in Asian trade Wednesday on supply concerns after the OPEC cartel reported a drop in crude production last month. New York’s main contract, West Texas Intermediate for delivery in January, edged up 16 cents to $85.95 in the morn- ing, and Brent North Sea crude for Janu- ary added 26 cents at $108.27. “On the commodities front, the energy markets were greeted with news that Saudi Arabian oil production has now fallen to its lowest level in a year as it scales back output amid weaker eco- nomic demand and rising US supplies,” said Jason Hughes, an analyst at IG Mar- kets Singapore. The 12-nation Organization of Petroleum Exporting Countries, which covers 35 percent of global demand for crude, said Tuesday that its production fell by 210,000 barrels per day in November. OPEC left its 2012 and 2013 demand forecasts unchanged from the prior month. Cartel ministers are meeting in Vienna on Wednesday, but Phillip Futures said most analysts do not expect it to change its output quotas from a combined 30 million barrels per day. Markets are also waiting for the outcome of a meeting of the US central bank, which is expected to see fresh easing measures to boost the economy, while eyes are also on talks in Washington to avert the fiscal cliff. EU approves deals to bolster trade with Latin America BRUSSELS AGENCIES EU lawmakers approved free-trade ac- cords with Colombia, Peru and six Cen- tral American nations on Tuesday, giving them permanent access to the EU’s 500 million consumers and offering the EU’s stagnant economy new markets for its cars and luxury goods. Setting aside doubts about Colombia’s human rights record, the European Par- liament in Strasbourg voted to allow the deals to come into force next year, build- ing on the eight countries’ separate free trade agreements with the United States. “At a time when our economy is strug- gling, it is vital that the EU forges stronger links with emerging economies,” said Catherine Bearder, a British liberal lawmaker who voted for the pacts. With global trade talks stalled, the Euro- pean Union is trying to sign free-trade deals with fast-growing economies in Asia and Latin America, as well as with developed countries including Japan and the United States, to revive its economy. For Latin America, the accord means most of the region’s Pacific economies now have trade pacts with both the Euro- pean Union and the United States. That deepens a divide between these nations and Argentina, Brazil and Venezuela on the Atlantic, which have been more re- luctant to drop barriers to trade. The accords, signed in June, mark an- other step in Colombia and Peru’s efforts to modernise their economies after decades of guerrilla- and drug-related vi- olence. They join Chile and Mexico as major Latin American economies seeing trade as their best chance to achieve sus- tained economic growth. “This is our bet,” Colombia’s ambassador to the European Union, Rodrigo Rivera, told Reuters. “It’s been a difficult debate at home, but we believe free trade is the way forward.” Services trade witnesses surplus during July-October PRO 13-12-2012_Layout 1 12/13/2012 12:19 AM Page 1
