Credible News from Pakistan!
Prime Minister Muhammad Shehbaz Sharif has expressed gratitude to the Chinese government for its cooperation in Karot Hydropower project.
In a tweet, he announced that the 720 Megawatts Karot hydropower project has become functional.
The Prime Minister said it is the first hydro power project which has been completed under CPEC.
He said during last four and a half years of the previous government, no significant progress was made on this project.
Source: Radio Pakistan
Minister of State for Petroleum Dr Musadik Malik has expressed Islamabad’s resolve for early completion of the Turkmenistan-Afghanistan-Pakistan-India project on account of Pakistan’s need for additional supplies of natural gas.
He was talking to Turkmenistan Ambassador Atadjan Molamov, who called on him in Islamabad on Friday.
The Minister of State reiterated Pakistan’s commitment to TAPI project and stressed the need to expedite the project. The same devotion to the multi-lateral project was expressed from Turkmenistan’s side.
Dr Musadik Malik requested the Turkmenistan side to take all steps for early completion of the project.
Source: Radio Pakistan
Chairman Senate Muhammad Sadiq Sanjrani has called for utilizing parliamentary diplomacy as a tool to promote regional peace and harmony and make collective efforts to resolve issues hampering development.
He expressed these views during his meetings with delegates and parliamentary heads of different countries on the sidelines of Non-Aligned Movement Parliamentary Network conference in Azerbaijan.
The Chairman Senate said Pakistan’s ‘Look Africa’ policy has been helpful in opening up new avenues of cooperation, enhanced connectivity and trade links.
He said Pakistan is keen to further deepen its ties with African countries and stressed the need to explore trade and investment opportunities through frequent exchanges in business sectors.
Sadiq Sanjrani urged African investors to explore investment opportunities in collaboration with their Pakistani counterparts.
Source: Radio Pakistan
Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif says Pakistan has huge economic and demographic potential and US companies should invest in Pakistan’s large market.
He was talking to US Ambassador Donald Blome, who called on him in Islamabad on Friday.
Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif underscored Pakistan’s desire to further develop this relationship on the basis of mutual respect, trust, and interest.
He also stressed the need to have the Trade and Investment Framework Agreement Ministerial meeting take place later this year, also hold the Business Opportunities Conference this year.
Recalling the depth and breadth of Pakistan-US relationship, the Prime Minister underscored that various Dialogues established between Pakistan and US have been playing a critical role in strengthening our bilateral ties in the areas of trade, investment, IT, climate change, health, and energy.
This year marks the 75th anniversary of the establishment of diplomatic ties between Pakistan and the United States. The Prime Minister hoped that both countries would celebrate this historic occasion in a befitting manner, which would further deepen bilateral and people-to-people ties.
He also stressed the need to have more exchanges at high-level between the two countries. The Prime Minister emphasized that the deepening of cooperation between Pakistan and the United States would promote peace and stability in Afghanistan and contribute to averting the humanitarian crisis in that country, which had been further aggravated by the recent earthquake.
While highlighting the rising wave of Islamophobia in India, Shehbaz Sharif condemned the sacrilegious remarks by the two BJP officials about the revered personality of the Holy Prophet (PBUH) that had deeply hurt the sentiments of Muslims.
The Prime Minister also underlined that India was committing grave violations of human rights in the Indian Illegally Occupied Jammu and Kashmir. While reiterating Pakistan’s commitment towards promotion of peace in the region, he stressed the importance of peaceful resolution of the Jammu and Kashmir dispute.
The Prime Minister called upon the international community to discharge its moral and normative obligations, while also calling upon India to adhere to the UN resolutions.
The Prime Minister congratulated the Ambassador on his presentation of credentials and expressed the hope that the Ambassador would devote his efforts to deepening and enhancing bilateral ties between the US and Pakistan.
He also conveyed his sincere good wishes to the people and Government of the United States on their 246th Independence Day.
Ambassador Blome thanked the Prime Minister for receiving him and reaffirmed the United States’ commitment to further strengthen and reinforce Pakistan-US ties.
He also thanked Pakistan for its prompt and effective assistance in facilitating evacuation from Afghanistan.
Source: Radio Pakistan
President Joe Biden will present the nation’s highest civilian honor, the Presidential Medal of Freedom, to 17 people, including actor Denzel Washington, gymnast Simone Biles and the late John McCain, the Arizona Republican with whom Biden served in the U.S. Senate.
Biden will also recognize Sandra Lindsay, the New York City nurse who rolled up her sleeve on live television in December 2020 to receive the first COVID-19 vaccine dose that was pumped into an arm in the United States, the White House announced Friday.
Biden’s honors list, which the White House shared first with The Associated Press, includes both living and deceased honorees from the worlds of Hollywood, sports, politics, the military, academia, and civil rights and social justice advocacy.
The Democratic president will present the medals at the White House next week.
Biden himself is a medal recipient. President Barack Obama honored Biden’s public service as a longtime U.S. senator and vice president by awarding him a Presidential Medal of Freedom in January 2017, a week before they left office.
The honorees who’ll receive medals from Biden “have overcome significant obstacles to achieve impressive accomplishments in the arts and sciences, dedicated their lives to advocating for the most vulnerable among us, and acted with bravery to drive change in their communities, and across the world, while blazing trails for generations to come,” the White House said.
The honor is reserved for people who have made exemplary contributions to the prosperity, values or security of the United States, world peace or other significant societal public or private endeavors, the White House said.
Biles is the most decorated U.S. gymnast in history, winning 32 Olympic and World Championship medals. She is an outspoken advocate on issues that are very personal to her, including athletes’ mental health, children in foster care and sexual assault victims.
Lindsay became an advocate for COVID-19 vaccinations after receiving the first dose in the U.S.
McCain, who died of brain cancer in 2018, spent more than five years in captivity in Vietnam while serving in the U.S. Navy. He later represented Arizona in both houses of Congress and was the Republican presidential nominee in 2008. Biden said McCain was a “dear friend” and “a hero.”
Washington is a double Oscar-winning actor, director and producer. He also has a Tony award, two Golden Globes and the Cecil B. DeMille Lifetime Achievement Award. He is a longtime spokesperson for the Boys & Girls Clubs of America.
The other 13 medal recipients are:
• Sister Simone Campbell. Campbell is a member of the Sisters of Social Service and a former executive director of NETWORK, a Catholic social justice organization. She is an advocate for economic justice, overhauling the U.S. immigration system and health care policy.
• Julieta Garcia. A former president of the University of Texas at Brownsville, Garcia was the first Latina to become a college president, the White House said. She was named one of the nation’s best college presidents by Time magazine.
• Gabrielle Giffords. A former U.S. House member from Arizona, the Democrat founded Giffords, an organization dedicated to ending gun violence. She was shot in the head in January 2011 during a constituent event in Tucson and was gravely wounded.
• Fred Gray. Gray was one of the first Black members of the Alabama Legislature after Reconstruction. He was a prominent civil rights attorney who represented Rosa Parks, the NAACP and Martin Luther King Jr.
• Steve Jobs. Jobs was the co-founder, chief executive and chair of Apple Inc. He died in 2011.
• Father Alexander Karloutsos. Karloutsos is the assistant to Archbishop Demetrios of America. The White House said Karloutsos has counseled several U.S. presidents.
• Khizr Khan. An immigrant from Pakistan, Khan’s Army officer son was killed in Iraq. Khan gained national prominence, and became a target of Donald Trump’s wrath, after speaking at the 2016 Democratic National Convention.
• Diane Nash. A founding member of the Student Nonviolent Coordinating Committee, Nash organized some of the most important 20th century civil rights campaigns and worked with King.
• Megan Rapinoe. The Olympic gold medalist and two-time Women’s World Cup soccer champion captains the OL Reign in the National Women’s Soccer League. She is a prominent advocate for gender pay equality, racial justice and LGBTQI+ rights who has appeared at Biden’s White House.
• Rapinoe, who was at training camp in Denver when the White House called to inform her of the honor, thought she was getting a prank or robocall when she saw her phone say “White House,” U.S. Soccer said in a statement. She showed her phone to a teammate, who encouraged her to answer the call.
• Alan Simpson. The retired U.S. senator from Wyoming served with Biden and has been a prominent advocate for campaign finance reform, responsible governance and marriage equality.
• Richard Trumka. Trumka had been president of the 12.5 million-member AFL-CIO for more than a decade at the time of his August 2021 death. He was a past president of the United Mine Workers.
• Wilma Vaught. A brigadier general, Vaught is one of the most decorated women in U.S. military history, breaking gender barriers as she has risen through the ranks. When Vaught retired in 1985, she was one of only seven female generals in the Armed Forces.
• Raúl Yzaguirre. A civil rights advocate, Yzaguirre was president and CEO of the National Council of La Raza for 30 years. He served as U.S. ambassador to the Dominican Republic under Obama.
Source: Voice of America