Baise Key Development and Opening Pilot Zone: High-level Opening-up Achieves High-quality Development

AISE, China, Sept. 27, 2021 /Xinhua-AsiaNet/– On September 11, the Promotion Conference & Signing Ceremony of Guangxi Baise Key Development and Opening Pilot Zone was held in Nanning, on which, a total of 47 projects were signed with a total investment of RMB 31.2 billion. It has been one year since the Baise Key Development and Opening Pilot Zone was approved (hereinafter referred to as Baise Pilot Zone). Throughout the first year, Baise Pilot Zone has embraced a wider opening-up and deepened the economic and trade cooperation, stepping into the forefront of friendly relations between China and ASEAN, and playing a vital part in the construction of “the Belt and Road”, according to the Publicity Department of Baise City.

Bird View of Guangxi Baise Key Development and Opening Pilot Zone

The frontier trade grows at a good momentum, whilst the transformation and upgrade of the border trade achieve initial success. Currently, Baise Pilot Zone has promoted the establishment of three processing parks, 19 processing projects of imported goods via border trade, and 20 border trade cooperatives, which has greatly stimulated the endogenous development of border trade. In 2020, facing the adverse situation caused by the outbreak of COVID-19, the frontier trade in Baise bucked the trend and increased, realizing the total import and export volume of RMB 4.7 billion, with a year-on-year growth of 59.5%. From January to July this year, the city reached RMB 23.829 billion for the export and import trade, with a year-on-year growth of 124%, ranking first in Guangxi in terms of the growth rate.

The responsible person of Jingxi Baocheng Food Co., Ltd. expressed: “The customs has taken a series of business model reforms, for example, through the reform that allows businessmen in frontier trade to transport imported goods directly to processing plants, our imported goods, such as fresh frozen shrimps, can be directly transported to the refrigerating chamber, which saves the cost and makes the customs clearance more efficient. Hence, the enterprises can operate efficiently and the dividends brought by reforms can benefit more businessmen in frontier trade.”

Longbang Port, Guangxi

To provide convenient trade conditions for foreign tradesmen, Baise Pilot Zone has actively launched business models, such as “full export and full import + centralized application”, “one license for multiple orders + centralized application”, “two-step application”, and “advance application and checkpoint inspection” for the import and export on border highways. In addition, the business reforms, such as the “centralized” application of frontier trade and the policy that enables to directly transport goods to the processing plants, were implemented, which have greatly enhanced the foreign trade benefits and saved the time and cost of the consumers and merchants.

Meanwhile, Baise Pilot Zone has promoted public services, including “various matters in one system” and “one-stop services” and to realize the goal of “handling at a time”, made solid progress in developing major projects. The efficient government service has attracted the attention of many investors.

According to the statistics, since Baise Pilot Zone has been approved, there have been 206 projects commenced with a total investment of RMB 198.8 billion, and 250 key projects reserved with a total investment of RMB 1.01 trillion.

Source: The Publicity Department of Baise City

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Guangxi: Open Up New Prospects for Cooperation in Scientific and Technological Innovation With ASEAN

NANNING, China, Sept. 27, 2021 /Xinhua-AsiaNet/– From September 9 to 13, the 9th Forum on China-ASEAN Technology Transfer and Collaborative Innovation was inaugurated in Nanning. The China-ASEAN Technology Trading Platform and the Innovation Space for China-ASEAN Science and Technology Talents were officially launched at the conference.

Building of China-ASEAN Technology Transfer Center

In recent years, the Department of Science and Technology of Guangxi has made full use of the geographical advantage of Guangxi, i.e. being adjacent to ASEAN countries, implemented “the Belt and Road” Science, Technology and Innovation Action Plan, strengthened the construction of China-ASEAN Technology Transfer Center (hereinafter referred to as “CATTC”), strived to open up a new situation in cooperation in scientific and technological innovation between Guangxi and ASEAN.

Hiseaton Brunei Deep Sea Cage Culture Base

Under the guidance of the Ministry of Science and Technology, the Department of Science and Technology of Guangxi has pioneered a new mode of technology transfer, helped CATTC to establish inter-governmental bilateral technology transfer mechanisms with 9 ASEAN countries including Thailand, Laos and Cambodia, set up joint technology transfer working groups with 7 ASEAN countries, and established a China-ASEAN technology transfer cooperation network covering 10 ASEAN countries and some countries of the Belt and Road Initiative with more than 2,600 members, which has given a strong boost to the cooperation between China and ASEAN countries in scientific and technological innovation.

The Department of Science and Technology of Guangxi has actively cooperated with universities and institutes at home and abroad to establish innovation platforms such as China-ASEAN Technology Transfer Center Bangkok Innovation Center, Guangxi Nanyang Scientific and Technological Innovation Center, and China-ASEAN Regional Innovation Center for Big Earth Data to serve the innovation-driven development strategy of Guangxi; promoted the sharing mechanism of domestic and international scientific and technological innovation resources under the new dual-cycle pattern, helped science and technology enterprises, universities and institutes of Guangxi to establish 20 joint laboratories or innovation centers in 9 ASEAN countries and carried out cooperation with countries of “the Belt and Road” Initiative, especially ASEAN countries, in scientific and technological innovation; and helped with the establishment of 12 agricultural science and technology parks in ASEAN countries, encouraged China’s competitive production capacity to “go global” through the China-Thailand Traditional Medicine Research Center and the China-Malaysia Joint Beidou Application Laboratory, etc., and promoted the application of advanced technological achievements in modern agriculture, new energy, traditional medicine, food processing, electronic information and chemical engineering in ASEAN countries to drive the local development in science, technology and economy.

To cope with regional development problems, the Department of Science and Technology of Guangxi has actively promoted the joint research, development and promotion of key generic technologies between the scientific research institutions and enterprises of Guangxi and ASEAN countries. For example, it has helped Guangxi University of Chinese Medicine, Chinese Academy of Sciences and Mahidol University of Thailand to carry out “Research on Anti-Novel Coronavirus Drugs Based on Chinese and Thai Natural Medicinal Materials”, completed the drug combination regimen for the treatment of COVID-19, analyzed and obtained the world’s first three-dimensional structure of the novel coronavirus protein, providing strong support for the further development of new anti-SARS-CoV-2 drugs; and helped China-ASEAN Information Harbor Co., Ltd.

connect with the telecommunication enterprises in the Philippines to enhance the development of the smart city, cloud computing, big data and the Internet of Things in the Philippines.

Source: The Department of Science and Technology of Guangxi Zhuang Autonomous Region

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Jingxi City Implements Development and Opening-up Strategy to Build a Regional Central City

JINGXI, China, Sept. 27, 2021 /Xinhua-AsiaNet/– The 18th China-ASEAN Expo was held in Nanning, Guangxi Zhuang Autonomous Region from September 10 to 13. During the expo, Jingxi City signed 5 projects with the merchants, with a total investment of more than RMB 29.4 billion, according to the Publicity Department of Jingxi City.

Longbang Port, Jingxi, China

At the investment promotion conference of China-ASEAN Expo, the main leaders of Jingxi stated that the city would strengthen support for foreign trade and local processing enterprises, promote the construction of standard factory buildings for commodity processing and the gradual transformation and upgrading of mutual trade to local processing, expand the total amount of foreign trade, and energetically develop local processing. The city would strive to create a first-class government, legal, cultural, market and social environment to provide quality services for entrepreneurs.

Jingxi is one of the important land passages connecting southwest China to southeast Asia, which borders Vietnam with a 152.5km long border. It has Longbang first-level port, Yuexu second-level port and 4 front trade markets.

Border villagers of Jingxi enter import and export cargo information into the customs declaration system.

In March 2020, the State Council of China approved the establishment of the Guangxi Baise Key Development and Opening Pilot Zone, and the role of Jingxi as a leading area of the pilot zone. In January 2021, Guangxi approved the establishment of the Jingxi Border Economic Cooperation Zone. In recent years, Jingxi has done a great job in border trade, poverty alleviation, tourism, and urban construction, and has made breakthroughs in border development and opening-up. From January to July this year, the total foreign trade volume of Jingxi reached RMB 138.3 billion, with a year-on-year increase of 51%.

In the next few years, Jingxi will further implement the “Five Strategies” of development and opening-up, rural revitalization, industrial city development, holistic tourism, and urban quality improvement. The city will promote the high-quality development of the Jingxi Leading Area of Guangxi Baise Key Development and Opening Pilot Zone, development of the demonstration and leading area of border stability, security, prosperity and wealth, and construction of “two districts and one city” as the regional central city of China-ASEAN cooperation.

Source: The Publicity Department of Jingxi City

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2021 China-South Korea Investment and Trade Fair and China (Shenyang) South Korea Week kicked off

SHENYANG, China, Sept. 27, 2021 /PRNewswire/ — The five-day 2021 China-South Korea Investment and Trade Fair and China (Shenyang) South Korea Week was launched in Shenyang, China on September 23rd, 2021, according to the Information Office of Shenyang People’s Government.

2021 China-South Korea Investment and Trade Fair and China (Shenyang) South Korea Week kicked off.

Artists from both China and South Korea jointly performed folk music, traditional Korean dance and modern stage plays at the “2021 China-South Korea Friendship Gala Evening”, one of the major cultural exchange activities of the “South Korea Week”. The acrobatics by Shenyang Acrobatic Troupe wowed the audience: “I didn’t even dare to blink for fear of missing the best part.”

“Cookin’ NANTA”, a South Korean stage play, which was performed on Broadway in New York in October 2003, was also performed on the very evening. “It is remarkable to enjoy the authentic programs in Shenyang,” a South Korean audience member working in Shenyang excitedly said.

2021 China-South Korea Friendship Gala Evening

Three Chinese performers who had won excellent scores in the Chuncheon International Vocal Competition sang ” Hand in Hand”.The audience beat time to the song, pushing the performance to a climax.

Economic and trade activities including China-South Korea Investment and Trade Fair exhibition, China-South Korea aviation industry exchange and cooperation docking meeting, China-South Korea life and health achievements docking meeting as well as cultural and sports exchange activities such as China-South Korea Food Festival, “Taekwondo demonstration team performance” will also be held during the South Korea Week.

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Historic office tower becomes namesake of legendary architect Arthur Erickson

Erickson’s designs can be found worldwide, including across the Middle East

Arthur Erickson Place

This Canadian office tower is a national historic landmark.

VANCOUVER, British Columbia, Sept. 26, 2021 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) — In what is considered a rare honour for an architect, Vancouver’s historic MacMillan Bloedel building – one of Canada’s most recognized and awarded office towers – officially rebranded to Arthur Erickson Place. Globally celebrated architect Arthur Erickson created the striking Modernist tower for forestry giant MacMillan Bloedel in the 1960s. The structure, made of reinforced bare concrete, rises above a spacious public plaza with reflecting pools that span the building’s length.

“It is rare for an architect to be honoured in this way, and I know that Arthur would be very proud to have the building carry his name, as it encapsulates all he strove to achieve architecturally,” said Erickson’s nephew, Christopher Erickson. “The building’s classic beauty and clarity of structure expresses the ruggedness of our land and majesty of our forests with a powerful cadence that tapers into infinity as it rises from its roots.”

The 27-storey building – the tallest in Vancouver when it was completed in 1968 – became a multi-award-winning national heritage landmark due to its construction technique of cast-in-place concrete, striking aesthetics of tapered walls and deeply recessed windows, and association with Erickson and MacBlo, which at the time was Canada’s largest forestry company.

“Arthur was very proud of this building – it was one of his favourites,” said Geoffrey Erickson about his uncle, who was known as the Master of Concrete. “This building is bold and daring and broke new ground in engineering, office planning and the use of concrete.”

Ownership Group

KingSett Capital, Crestpoint Real Estate Investments, and Reliance Properties acquired the award-winning building in 2019.

Erickson and his bold design were featured in Time magazine in the 1960s and the building won the esteemed 1970 Massey Medal for Architecture, among many other awards.

Now 53-years-old, the distinguished concrete building has continued to be called MacBlo even though the company ceased to exist 22 years ago. Two years ago, KingSett Capital, Crestpoint Real Estate Investments, and Reliance Properties jointly bought the building with a plan to reestablish it as the premier corporate office location in downtown Vancouver.

“It is time to give this powerful, monolithic office building its due place on Vancouver’s skyline by branding it after Arthur Erickson in honour of his excellence,” said Jon Stovell, president & CEO of Reliance Properties. “With its heritage distinction, central downtown location, and strong visual identity, Arthur Erickson Place will continue to be the address with cachet.”

Designs in the Middle East

Erickson was born in Vancouver and became a globally celebrated modernist architect and master planner. Approximately 40 of his designs can be found across the Middle East, many of them large-scale public projects including masterplans, universities, and museums.

He designed only nine office buildings in his vast global portfolio of 700 designs. Two of those office buildings are in downtown Vancouver – Evergreen Building and Arthur Erickson Place, both of which are listed on Canada’s heritage registry.

“Arthur Erickson Place is an iconic presence in the heart of Vancouver, expressed with timeless repose and finesse,” said Christopher Erickson. “Arthur always said that the mind was at the service of the heart. This is evidenced in the sublime artistry of Arthur Erickson Place.”

Erickson died in 2009 at age 84.

**Media Inquiries: Renu Bakshi 604 787 1873 or renu@renubakshi.com

Ownership Profiles

KingSett Capital is Canada’s leading private equity real estate investment firm.  Founded in 2002, KingSett has raised $12.5 billion of equity for its Growth, Income, Urban, Mortgage and Affordable Housing strategies, executing over $50 billion in transactions life to date. Currently, KingSett has $16.2 billion of assets under management in a $19 billion portfolio. KingSett continues to seek further opportunities to invest in a wide range of real estate properties, developments, joint ventures and mortgage lending. www.kingsettcapital.com

Crestpoint Real Estate Investments Ltd. is a commercial real estate investment manager, with approximately $6.3 billion of gross assets under management, dedicated to providing investors with direct access to commercial real estate assets. Crestpoint is part of the Connor, Clark & Lunn Financial Group, a multi-boutique asset management company that provides investment management products and services to institutional and high net-worth clients. With offices across Canada and in Chicago, New York and London, Connor, Clark & Lunn Financial Group and its affiliates are collectively responsible for the management of over $100 billion in assets. www.crestpoint.ca

Reliance Properties, a family-owned company founded in 1955, is one of BC’s longest-serving real estate owners, developers, and property managers of residential, office, live-work, and retail properties. The company holds the largest private portfolio of heritage buildings in Western Canada, winning multiple regional and national awards for design, innovation, and architectural heritage renewal. Reliance’s extensive work also includes award-winning heritage restoration and modern additions to commercial space. www.relianceproperties.ca

Photos accompanying this announcement are available at

https://www.globenewswire.com/NewsRoom/AttachmentNg/91b62668-cf57-47cd-bed3-bda70fc3542b

https://www.globenewswire.com/NewsRoom/AttachmentNg/477f1246-f9af-41f9-a7c8-31a28597062a


Payment of Sales Tax on Services through ePay Punjab App Crosses Rs. 25 Billion

The payment of sales tax on services has crossed over Rs. 25 billion against 26,000 transactions through ePay Punjab, a Mobile Application developed by Punjab Information Technology Board (PITB).

The ePay Punjab has collected a staggering Rs. 2 billion+ revenue against six million transactions from online traffic challan payments. The online traffic challan payment through e-Pay Punjab is currently available in Lahore, Gujranwala, Faisalabad, Rawalpindi, and Multan. This was informed during a progress review meeting on Monday.

Addressing the meeting, Chairman PITB Azfar Manzoor stated that ePay efficiently facilitated the citizens during the ongoing pandemic. “Citizens are able to make tax payments from the comfort of their homes while practicing social distancing,” he remarked.

Director-General IT Operation, PITB, Faisal Yousaf and other senior officials also attended the meeting.

Currently, ePay Punjab is offering online tax payment of 21 levies for 10 departments, and it has, to date, collected total revenue of PKR 44 billion+.

The ePay Punjab is a flagship project of PITB executed in collaboration with the Punjab Finance Department. Automation of online tax payment system through ePay Punjab has increased the government collections by enabling the citizens to make online payments on the spot or at their own convenience.

Source: Pro Pakistani

Govt’s Timely Interventions Helped Pakistan Achieve Highest Wheat Yield: Fakhar Imam

The enhancement of Minimum Support Price (MSP), along with a number of other measures taken by the government, has yielded results by helping the country harvest the highest crop of 27.5 million metic tons.

Federal Minister for National Food Security and Research Syed Fakhar Imam made these remarks while chairing a meeting of the Wheat Review Committee on Wheat Crop of the Ministry of National Food Security and Research on Monday.

Representatives of all provincial food departments, PASSCO, and senior officials of NFS&R attended the meeting. The minister was apprised of the latest wheat production estimates, wheat stock positions, wheat carry forward and procurement progress, and updates on wheat release price and MSP.

The Minister said that every year, almost five to six million people were added to the country’s population, which increased the total demand for wheat in the country. He added that by managing the controllable factors, including the availability of high-quality, rust-resistant, and certified seed, effective utilization of water, and proper usage of fertilizers and pesticides, the overall production of wheat can be significantly increased. He stressed that both the overall area under cultivation and the per hectare yield needed to be increased.

Federal Minister sensitized the provincial food departments about the need for timely finalization of the MSP. He emphasized that MSP should be finalized before the sowing season of wheat in order to make it effective. He was briefed that the provinces had submitted their MSP proposals and were awaiting cabinet approvals.

Fakhar Imam was briefed that Punjab and Khyber Pakhtunkhwa had finalized their wheat release policies at Rs. 1950/40 kg, whereas the retail price would be Rs. 1100/20 kg. He was further told that Sindh was yet to get final approval from the provincial cabinet for its wheat release policy.

The Federal Minister was apprised by the provincial agricultural departments of the latest production figures of wheat. Punjab’s production, he was told, was estimated at 20.9 MMT, and Sindh’s production at 4.04 MMT, whereas the KPK and GB production estimates stood at 1.45 and 1.15 MMTs. The total wheat stock available with Punjab stands at 3.86 MMT, Sindh’s at 1.26 MMT, KPK’s at 0.18 MMT, and Baluchistan’s at 0.085 MMT, he was informed.

Fakhar Imam said that the government was focusing on the availability of certified seed and for the upcoming season, around 530,000 metric tons would be available including 160,000 tons rust-tolerant varieties.

Fakhar stressed the need for announcing the MSP well before the start of the sowing season. He said that a variety of factors, including an enhancement of MSP from Rs. 1,400 to Rs. 1,800, favorable weather conditions, availability of certified seed (513,000 ton), availability of fertilizers and irrigation water, etc, helped the country achieve a historic production, as it had the highest wheat yield of 27.5 million tons.

Fakhar Imam said that the government planned to formulate a policy, under which all the stakeholders would be heard and all their concerns to be addressed. He announced that an informed policy would be made before the sowing season to enhance wheat productivity and overall production. He made an assurance about Gilgit-Baltistan and Azad Jammu & Kashmir (AJ&K) that the federal government was fully willing to supply wheat to the wheat deficit areas from the PASSCO’s stock.

Source: Pro Pakistani

IMF Nominated Country Representative Calls on Finance Minister

Esther Perez Ruiz, the nominated Resident Representative of the International Monetary Fund (IMF), paid a courtesy call on Federal Minister for Finance and Revenue Shaukat Tarin at the Finance Division on Monday.

Ruiz, currently visiting Pakistan on a pre-assignment mission, was accompanied by the outgoing IMF representative Ms. Teresa Sanchez. The Finance Minister felicitated the nominated Resident Representative and expressed his best wishes for her upcoming assignment beginning in November 2021.

Finance Minister stated that Pakistan was firmly committed to pursuing an all-inclusive and sustainable economic growth with a focus on a “bottom-up” approach to uplift marginalized segments of the society. “To this end, the government intends to engage development partners to broaden economic development through fiscal consolidation and prudent economic measures amid the COVID-19 pandemic and in the post-COVID-19 scenario,” he underlined. He commended IMF for extending timely assistance during testing times.

The Finance Minister underlined the key initiatives of the government to provide maximum relief to the masses. He stressed that the government was taking a range of administrative, policy, and relief measures to absorb the upward pressure on prices of basic food commodities due to the pandemic.

The government has adopted a multi-pronged strategy to enhance revenue collection and to broaden the existing tax base, he said. He highlighted the commendable performance of FBR in surpassing revenue collection targets in recent months despite the ongoing COVID-19. The broadening of the tax base is one of the key priorities of the government, he added.

The Finance Minister assured the IMF representatives that the government was committed to the IMF program and it hoped to successfully complete the upcoming review as well as Article IV consultations. He said the implementation of track and trace for tobacco was being started from October 1, 2021, as it was one of the requirements under the IMF Extended Fund Facility (EFF) program. He stated that reforms were being carried out in the power sector to address the issue of circular debt. It is worth mentioning that Pakistan is in IMF’s extended fund facility EFF program since July 2019 for 6 billion dollars.

The new representative of IMF commended the efforts of Pakistan in managing the spread of the virus through a series of smart and targeted lockdowns to strike a balance between lives and livelihoods. She expressed a hope to work closely with the Government of Pakistan during her tenure.

The Finance Minister assured Ms. Ruiz of full support and facilitation from the government and wished her well with her new assignment.

Source: Pro Pakistani