Latest news with #Pakistan
Arab News
an hour ago
- Business
- Arab News
Pakistani commerce minister embarks on ‘pivotal' UK visit to deepen economic ties
ISLAMABAD: Pakistani Commerce Minister Jam Kamal Khan has embarked on a 'pivotal' official visit to the United Kingdom (UK) from July 14 till July 20 to strengthen economic ties between the two countries, Khan's ministry said on Sunday. The minister is accompanied by Commerce Secretary Jawad Paul and this high-level visit aims to deepen bilateral commercial ties, strengthen institutional frameworks, and open new avenues for trade and investment between Pakistan and the UK. Khan will engage with major Chambers of Commerce in London and Birmingham to advance bilateral trade and explore opportunities in emerging sectors, besides highlighting Pakistan's export potential and fostering greater business-to-business collaboration. 'One of the central moments of the visit will be the signing of the Terms of Reference (ToRs) for the Pakistan-UK Trade Dialogue,' the commerce ministry said. 'This formalization marks a significant step toward institutionalizing bilateral trade cooperation, injecting greater standardization, transparency, and predictability into the economic relationship between the two countries.' The UK maintains zero-tariff access of Pakistan's exports post-Brexit, making it Pakistan's largest European and third-largest individual export partner, according to the Pakistani foreign ministry. The Pakistan-UK trade in goods and services reached £4.7 billion in 2024, an increase of 7.3 percent, or £320 million, compared to the previous year, according to the UK government data. Of this £4.7 billion, UK exports to Pakistan amounted to £2.2 billion, while its imports from Pakistan amounted to £2.5 billion. During his visit, the Pakistani commerce minister is scheduled to meet with members of the UK's All Parties Parliamentary Group (APPG), where he will advocate for stronger political support in enhancing trade and investment flows, according to the commerce ministry. These discussions will aim to align parliamentary efforts with Pakistan's broader economic diplomacy goals and strengthen long-term partnerships. 'Khan will interact with leading UK-based multi-million-dollar companies from key sectors such as food processing, information technology, engineering, fintech, and capital investment. These meetings aim to showcase Pakistan's economic potential and attract targeted investments into high-growth industries,' the commerce ministry said. 'The visit also includes important meetings with the UK Pakistan Business Council, Pakistan Britain Business Council, and UK Pakistan Chamber of Commerce & Industry. These discussions will focus on strengthening institutional trade linkages and leveraging diaspora-led initiatives to boost trade volumes and visibility in the UK market.' Pakistan is currently striving to draw overseas investment amid a gradually healing macroeconomic environment after a prolonged downturn that forced Islamabad to seek external financing from friendly nations and multiple loan programs from the International Monetary Fund (IMF). Khan's visit follows another trip to the UK in June by Pakistan's Finance Minister Muhammad Aurangzeb and Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif's aide on privatization, Muhammad Ali, who held meetings with executives from renowned firms, including TTB Partners, STJ Partners, Deutsche Bank, Berenberg Bank, and Amundi Fund Group, to spotlight Pakistan's privatization roadmap and its growing potential as a hub for strategic, long-term investment. The Pakistani commerce ministry said Khan's visit marks a 'renewed thrust in Pakistan's efforts to advance economic diplomacy, diversify export markets, and solidify its commercial footprint in global markets like the United Kingdom.'
Arab News
2 hours ago
- Politics
- Arab News
Pakistan minister to attend tomorrow tri-nation conference in Tehran on pilgrim, border issues
KARACHI: Pakistan's Interior Minister Mohsin Naqvi is undertaking an official visit to Tehran to attend a tri-nation conference on pilgrim and border issues, the Pakistani interior ministry said on Sunday. The conference of interior ministers from Pakistan, Iran and Iraq is being convened on a request from Islamabad, according to the Pakistani interior ministry. Thousands of Pakistani Shiite Muslims, who travel annually to Iran and Iraq to visit holy sites, have often complained of issues at the border. 'Interior Minister Mohsin Naqvi will attend the trilateral conference on pilgrims and border issues in Tehran tomorrow,' the Pakistani interior ministry said on Sunday. 'Naqvi will also meet with Iranian President Masoud Pezeshkian.' Last month, Pakistan evacuated over 260 nationals from Iraq and another 450 Pakistanis who had been stranded in Iran during the Tehran-Israeli conflict. The 12-day war between Iran and Israel, which began on June 13 Israeli airstrikes on Iranian nuclear facilities and military leadership, raised alarms in a region that was already on edge since the start of Israel's war on Gaza in October 2023. Pakistan remained engaged in talks with regional partners like Saudi Arabia, Iran, China and Qatar to de-escalate tensions in the Middle East after Iran conducted retaliatory strikes on Israel and a US base in Qatar, raising fears the conflict could draw in other regional states.
Arab News
2 hours ago
- Politics
- Arab News
Imran Khan's party says has launched 90-day ‘do-or-die' movement against government
ISLAMABAD: Former prime minister Imran Khan's Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) party announced on Sunday that its 90-day 'do-or-die' protest movement against the government has begun, saying that it would determine the future of the party. Earlier this month, the PTI announced it would launch a nationwide protest movement after the Islamic month of Muharram, following a ruling by Pakistan's top court denying the party reserved parliamentary seats for minorities and women. Tensions further escalated days earlier when 26 PTI provincial lawmakers were suspended by the speaker of the Punjab Assembly for 15 sessions, after they protested during Chief Minister Maryam Nawaz Sharif's speech on June 27. Gandapur arrived in the eastern city of Lahore from KP on Saturday to discuss the party's political strategy and finalize its protest movement against the government. 'We have announced a 90-day protest movement, which began yesterday [Saturday]… And it will be a do-or-die [movement] for us, whether we remain there [in KP government] or not,' Gandapur, flanked by the PTI's leadership, told reporters at a news conference in Lahore. The KP chief minister vowed that the party's anti-government protest movement will 'reach its peak' on August 5, marking two years since Khan was arrested after being convicted by a court for illegally selling state gifts. Federal Information Minister Attaullah Tarar termed the PTI protest movement a 'political gimmick,' saying that Khan's party had made several such announcements. 'He [Gandapur] has made several such announcements and these are political gimmicks,' Tarar told Arab News. 'PTI has lost street power and its credibility, and is heading toward irrelevance,' the minister added. Khan, who has remained in prison since then, says the charges against him are politically motivated and has denied wrongdoing. His party has held various protests demanding his release and an independent investigation into the elections of February 2024. Pakistan's government has denied the PTI's allegations and says the elections of February 2024 were transparent. It accuses the former prime minister and his party of attempting to disrupt the government's efforts to achieve sustainable economic growth through violent protests. In one of the PTI's protests in November last year, the government said four troops were killed in clashes with Khan supporters. The PTI rejects this allegation. 'REAL DECISION-MAKERS' Gandapur alleged that the PTI was being denied its right to hold peaceful protests, vowing that it would now mobilize people across the country. 'We will announce a plan accordingly, after taking all our local workers and leaders into confidence on how to proceed with this movement,' the chief minister said. On holding talks with the government, Gandapur said his government was ready to hold talks but with the 'real decision-makers,' indirectly referring to the military. 'Imran Khan has very clearly said this, '[I] will only negotiate with those who are decision-makers [military establishment]. What's the point of talking to someone who doesn't have any authority?',' Gandapur said. Pakistan's military says it does not interfere in political issues and rejects the PTI's allegations that it conspired with Khan's political opponents to oust his government in a parliamentary vote in April 2022.
BBC News
4 hours ago
- Sport
- BBC News
Football saved my life, says Afghan national team captain
The former captain of an Afghan national women's football team has said the game saved her life, after fleeing the country when the Taliban seized Nawroozi, 27, and her teammates from the Women's Development youth team left Afghanistan in 2021 along with many other citizens, after fearing for their safety as a women's sports a coach at Harrogate Town AFC, Ms Nawroozi wants to share her passion for the game with other refugee women and girls in North Yorkshire, by setting up a free said: "If I wasn't a football player, I'd never have chance to get out. Football saved my life." When Ms Nawroozi first decided to take up football, her father was supportive - but her mother needed a bit more convincing."She said 'if you play football, you won't marry anybody'. It was important to her that I got married to a good person," she said."I didn't listen because I really wanted to do it. But she's really supportive now."She knows I love football, and she knows how football has helped all of our lives."When the Taliban regained power in Afghanistan, Ms Nawroozi and her family did not leave the house for five days, while they worked out what to do next to stay safe. She emailed a footballer who had left the country 10 years earlier, who then put her in touch with Leeds United club offered to help secure visas and travel arrangements out of Afghanistan, via Afghan team and their families were due to fly out of Kabul, but security warnings stopped them reaching the airport, hours before it was struck by a bomb. Eventually, they successfully made it to Pakistan but the arrival came with mixed emotions for Ms Nawroozi."All the way from the border to the hotel, I was crying. I feel I lost my heart, I feel I lost my mother, I feel I lost my everything," she final leg of the journey to the UK was still proving to be a challenge - and help came from an unexpected reality TV star Kim Kardashian came to the refugees' aid, covering the cost of chartering a plane to Stansted Airport, and paying for the squad's onward travel and accommodation. However relieved and grateful she may have been, Ms Nawroozi admitted she had never heard of the celebrity before."I didn't know who Kim Kardashian [was] and I thought, 'maybe she's a really rich woman," she explained."I didn't know she's a celebrity. She's a really good woman."Today, Ms Nawroozi is still involved in the sport she settled in North Yorkshire, she works with Harrogate Town AFC as a coach for community groups associated with the this year, the club announced she was its Premier League Communities Captain for 2025. Ms Nawroozi said it was hard to "build from zero" during her first year in the UK."The hardest thing was that we left our country forever [and] we need to accept that," she said."But now I love it; I love my job, my friends and colleagues."Alongside her coaching, Ms Nawroozi is studying her GCSEs at Harrogate College, with the ambition of attending the University of York as a psychology dream is to set up a football team for refugees in the county later this year, so they can enjoy the sport free of charge."I don't want them to just play football, I want them to learn to be a good player, to build a good future," she added. Listen to highlights from North Yorkshire on BBC Sounds, catch up with the latest episode of Look North.
Arab News
5 hours ago
- Politics
- Arab News
Imran Khan's party says 90-day ‘do or die' anti-Pakistan government movement underway
ISLAMABAD: Former prime minister Imran Khan's Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) party announced on Sunday that its 90-day 'do or die' protest movement against the government is underway, saying that it would determine the future of the party. Earlier this month, the PTI announced it would launch a nationwide protest movement after the Islamic month of Muharram, following a ruling by Pakistan's top court denying the party reserved parliamentary seats for minorities and women. Tensions further escalated days earlier when 26 PTI provincial lawmakers were suspended by the speaker of the Punjab Assembly for 15 sessions, after they protested during Chief Minister Maryam Nawaz Sharif's speech on June 27. Gandapur arrived in the eastern city of Lahore from KP on Saturday to discuss the party's political strategy and finalize its protest movement against the government. 'We have announced a 90-day protest movement, which began yesterday [Saturday] and it will be a do-or-die movement for us, whether we remain there [in KP government] or not, ' Gandapur, flanked by the PTI's leadership, told reporters at a news conference in Lahore. The KP chief minister vowed that the party's anti-government protest movement will 'reach its peak' on August 5, marking two years since Khan was arrested after being convicted by a court for illegally selling state gifts. 'REAL DECISION-MAKERS' Khan, who has remained in prison since then, says the charges against him are politically motivated and has denied wrongdoing. His party has held various protests demanding his release and an independent investigation into the elections of February 2024. In one of the PTI's protests in November last year, the government said four troops were killed in clashes with Khan supporters. The PTI rejects this allegation. Gandapur alleged that the PTI was being denied its right to hold peaceful protests across the country, vowing that it would now mobilize people across the country. 'We will announce a plan accordingly, after taking all our local workers and leaders into confidence on how to proceed with this movement,' the chief minister said. On holding talks with the government, Gandapur said his government was ready to hold talks but with the 'real decision-makers,' indirectly referring to the military. 'They [military establishment] are the real decision-makers, so we will talk to them only as there is no point in talking to those [the government] who have no power to make any decisions,' Gandapur said. Arab News reached out to federal ministers and senior leaders of the ruling Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz (PML-N) party for a response, but did not receive one till the filing of this report. Pakistan's military says it does not interfere in political issues and rejects the PTI's allegations that it conspired with Khan's political opponents to oust his government in a parliamentary vote in April 2022. Pakistan's government has denied the PTI's allegations of stifling dissent and says the elections of February 2024 were transparent. It accuses the former prime minister and his party of attempting to disrupt the government's efforts to achieve sustainable economic growth via violent protests.
