38,000T of wheat for NWFP arrives at PQ
Thursday, September 04, 2008
KARACHI: A vessel MV Shinyo Integrity, carrying 38,000 metric tonnes of imported wheat berthed Port Qasim on Wednesday and started offloading cargo.
A source in the Trading Corporation of Pakistan (TCP) said that the entire wheat will be dispatched to NWFP within four days via goods train. He said that TCP chairman Mohammad Saeed along with Additional Secretary MINFAL Shahid Husain Raja visited Berth No 4 of Port Qasim this morning and inspected the handling of wheat. He directed the cargo handling staff to work hard and round the clock as this wheat has to be transported to NWFP within four days to meet the shortage in the province.
TCP chairman was informed that the wheat is directly packed into jute bags and will be shipped to Pipri Railway Marshalling yard through trucks and trailers. From there, it will be transported to NWFP via goods train.
It may be noted that TCP has awarded contracts for the supply of 1.516 million tonnes of wheat from worldwide sources, of which, 183,899 metric tonnes had arrived in the country and dispatched to wheat deficit areas.
BOC to invest Rs100m in N2O plant
Thursday, September 04, 2008
KARACHI: BOC Pakistan Limited on Wednesday said it was investing over Rs100 million for installing a nitrous oxide (N2O) plant at Multan with an annual capacity to produce 325,000 kg.
The company currently operates 60 tonnes per day carbon dioxide (CO2) manufacturing facility at the Multan site, it said in a statement released here.
BOC owns and operates various air separation units, CO2, dissolved acetylene, N20, other gases compression facilities and welding electrode manufacturing plants.
“This is one of more investment tranches to come in BOC Pakistan, reinforcing our aggressive growth and investment strategy and commitment to the Pakistani market. This new project is scheduled to be commissioned by early 2009,” said BOC Country Head Ayaz Bokhari.
This latest announcement is in addition to the already announced investment of Rs214 million in January this year to expand existing CO2 business.
BOC Pakistan has more than 3,000 customers on its portfolio including customers in the glass and steel sectors, oil and gas exploration, chemicals, food and beverages, pharmaceuticals, hospitals and a host of various welding and cutting applications.
It is part of the Linde Group, a leasing, gases and engineering company with more than 50,000 employees working in around 100 countries worldwide.
Palestinians study options if peace talks fail
Thursday, September 04, 2008
OCCUPIED-AL-QUDS: Support among Palestinians for a bi national state with Israel will grow should US-brokered talks on creating an independent Palestine fail, a Palestinian think tank forecast in a new report released on Wednesday.
Israel has long rejected the idea of becoming a bi national country, in which Jews would lose their majority. Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas has said he remains committed to a two-state solution despite slow-moving negotiations.
A 50-page document, formulated by the Palestine Strategy Studies Group (PSSG) and titled “Palestinian Strategic Options to End the Israeli Occupation”, noted Palestinian frustration over Jewish settlement expansion in the occupied West Bank.
“If the current negotiations fail, Palestinians will be driven to replace the 1988 (two-state solution) offer (by the Palestine Liberation Organisation) by a new strategy, not just rhetorically but in reality,” the report said.
“The negotiated two-state outcome will then be definitely cancelled,” it added.
The PSSG is made up of 30 Palestinian intellectuals and professionals from the West Bank, the Gaza Strip and the diaspora. The study was funded by the European Union.
The document has sparked a debate within the Palestinian society on the next steps to be taken should negotiators fail to meet Washington’s goal of achieving at least a framework peace deal by the end of the year. Palestinian negotiators have said that Israeli proposals fall short of Palestinian aspirations for a viable state on lands Israel captured during the 1967 Middle East war.
Abbas plans to meet US President George W Bush on September 26 on the sidelines of the UN General Assembly session in New York, Palestinian Information Minister Riyad al-Malki said on Wednesday.
“We must be prepared with options and scenarios,” Palestinian writer Hani al-Masri, a member of the PSSG, told Reuters.
“The document lists a number of options, including a bi national state. It doesn’t say the two-state solution must be ruled out but it says that the two-state solution is being eradicated by settlements and Israeli facts on the ground,” Masri said, referring to the Jewish enclaves on occupied land.
The Palestinian leadership has also started debating options if no deal is reached. Senior Abbas aide Yasser Abed Rabbo said one possibility under discussion was a unilateral declaration of independence.
The idea caused an international uproar in 1999 when then-Palestinian leader Yasser Arafat threatened to declare statehood in the West Bank and Gaza Strip.
“The entire Palestinian discourse must change. Our aim is to end the occupation and not have a process without peace,” Fatah official Mohammad Ishtayeh, a member of the PSSG said.