TOKYO  -Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe and his Indian counterpart agreed on Wednesday to speed up talks on a deal to allow Japan to export nuclear plants and to strengthen security cooperation as both sides keep a wary eye on China’s military clout.The Indo-Japanese summit meeting ...

SURABAYA  - Japan's participation in a massive Pacific trade agreement will create an enormous market for American exports and generate employment, a top US trade official said Sunday.Acting US trade representative Demetrios Marantis lauded the unanimous decision for Japan's entry into the ...

DUSHANBE – Construction of the railway link connecting Tajikistan, Afghanistan and Turkmenistan as well as implementation of the Central Asia South Asia Electricity Transmission and Trade Project (CASA 1000) were the focus of a meeting of Tajik President Emomali Rahmon with Afghan Foreign ...

A petition was filed in the Supreme Court of Pakistan on Wednesday, challenging the written deal signed by Prime Minister Raja Pervez Ashraf and Allama Tahirul Qadri regarding termination of the long march on Jan 17. The petition, filed by Shahid Orakzai, argued that the pact was in contrast with ...

GARETH PORTER AND SHAH NOURINearly a year after the Barack Obama administration began negotiations with the government of Afghan President Hamid Karzai on a US military presence in Afghanistan beyond 2014, both sides confirmed last week that the talks are still hung up over the Afghan demand that ...

KARACHI - Karachi Electric Supply Company has embarked on the first of its kind project in Pakistan, with the aim to convert its 1,260 MW (210 MW x 6 units) Bin Qasim Power Plant into a coal-fired generation plant. This project will have a step-wise execution, the phase-one of which will see the ...

LAHORE - The Punjab government and search engine giant Google have signed an MoU to promote archaeological sites of the province using Google Maps. Secretary Tourism Dr. Allah Bakhsh and William Fitzgerald of Google  signed the document at the Arfa Information Technology Park.Chief Minister ...

KARACHI - SBP and the Islamic Corporation for the Insurance of Investment and Export Credit (ICIEC), a member of the Islamic Development Bank (IDB) Group, have signed an MoU to cooperate in promoting trade and investment in Pakistan.The MoU, which was signed by State Bank of Pakistan Governor ...

BRUSSELS  - Europe’s efforts to seal a new pact to deepen economic integration was dealt a setback even before it comes to life after Standard & Poor’s warned that the treaty may lead to self-defeating austerity.European Union leaders agreed after a tense summit last month to ...

 KARACHI – TCS Financial Services (Pvt) Ltd., and AsiaCare Health and Life Insurance Co. Ltd. signed an agreement in Karachi today related to collaboration of services between two companies. The agreement was signed by Ghazanfar Azzam, CEO, TCS Financial Services (Pvt) Ltd., and Dr. ...

LAHORE - PIA and Pakistan Airline Pilots Association (PALPA) have mutually agreed to finalise the working agreement for the year 2011-13 without any revision in pay and allowances. PALPA President Captain Suhail Baluch informed that PALPA members have agreed unanimously not to ask for financial ...

ISLAMABAD (APP) Board of Investment (BoI) and Japan International Cooperation Agency (JICA) have signed an agreement for strengthening investment climate in Pakistan. The agreement was signed by Takatoshi Nishikata, Chief Representative of JICA and Saleem H. Mandviwalla, Minister of ...

ISLAMABAD (Agencies) - Foreign Minister Hina Rabbani Khar Wednesday said the recent strategic partnership agreement between India and Afghanistan would not have any effect on Pakistan. Talking to reporters, Khar said Pakistan, India and Afghanistan understand the present situation and will face the ...

NEW DELHI (AFP) - The Indian government on Saturday signed a pact with one of India's oldest rebel groups to end militant violence in the restive northeastern state of Assam and pave the way for peace talks. The United Liberation Front of Asom (ULFA), the largest separatist outfit in Assam, is ...

KARACHI - Joint Action Committee of PIA Employees (JACPIAE) has expressed its reservations on the code-sharing agreement between Pakistan and Turkey that is nonetheless mutual but PIA will suffer financial losses on the routes given to it. JACPIAE officials said that PIA employees are bewildered as ...

ISLAMABAD - The repatriation of Afghan refugees would not achieve the desired goals without bringing stability in Afghanistan as the UN Refugee Agency facilitates the return of registered Afghan refugees back to their homeland. With the start of Afghan refugees repatriation since Tuesday under the ...

LAHORE - Tuwairqi Steel Mills Limited (TSML) and STX Corporation of South Korea have agreed to collaborate in a bid to advance TSMLs DRI Plant by producing HBI as well. The two parties have reached a consensus during the recent meeting at TSMLs head office where Zaigham Adil Rizvi, Director ...

LAHORE - The MCB Bank Limited has initiated a new remittance service to Pakistan from United Arab Emirates (UAE) and in this regard an agreement has been signed between MCB Bank Limited and UAE based Emirates India International Exchange (EIIE), a leading exchange house in the region. This service ...

LAHORE A few days ago, India and France inked a civil nuclear pact, which will pave the way for construction of two French nuke reactors in India. New Delhis increasing nuclear cooperation with different countries has put a big question mark on the safety of its controversial nuclear programme. ...

WASHINGTON (Reuters) The United States and India on Friday formally signed an agreement on reprocessing spent nuclear fuel that US officials hope will allow American firms a share of Indias $150 billion nuclear energy market. The agreement, signed by US Undersecretary of State for Political ...

LAHORE The Supreme Court Bar Association (SCBA) has strongly reacted to the Pakistans transit trade pact with India and Afghanistan at a time when their agencies are involved in terrorist attacks in Pakistan. Secretary of the Bar Raja Zulqarnain condemning the agreement in question Monday alleged ...

TAIPEI (AFP) - Taiwan and China on Thursday concluded a day of talks in Taipei finalising the details of a controversial trade agreement that the two sides expect to sign next week. Senior officials from Beijing and Taipei agreed on a list of industries that will benefit first from the pact, known ...

TAIPEI (AFP) - Taiwan and China were stuck in negotiations on their trade pact, the islands premier said Saturday, in the latest sign that the two sides may miss this months deadline for concluding the agreement. We are stuck on some items as certain Taiwanese industries will lose their ...

SEOUL (AFP) - East Asian nations Wednesday officially launched a 120-billion-dollar regional currency swap agreement, giving them a safety net against future liquidity shortages. The Chiang Mai Initiative Multilateralisation (CMIM) covers South Korea, China, Japan and the 10-member Association of ...

WASHINGTON (AFP) - The United States is beginning to lay the initial groundwork for talks to forge a free trade agreement with Southeast Asia, ahead of President Barack Obamas maiden trip to the region. A senior US senator will propose a resolution on Tuesday encouraging Obama administration ...

KARACHI/LAHORE - The three months of negotiations and hectic efforts finally rendered sterile as the MOU signed between the Pakistan Airlines Pilots Association (Palpa) and Pakistan International Airline (PIA) has almost fallen apart. The negotiations on the working agreement and salary raise have ...

KARACHI (PR) - Dawood Capital Management Ltd (DCM) has entered into an agreement with Dawood Family Takaful Ltd (DFTL) to provide free accidental death coverage to all its individual unit holders of open-end funds namely, Dawood Money Market Fund (DMMF) and Dawood Islamic Fund (DIF). The aforesaid ...

ISLAMABAD (APP) - Federal Cabinet on Wednesday accorded approval for the ratification of agreement on cooperation in the field of transportation and transit of goods between Pakistan and Uzbekistan. The agreement envisages free traffic in transit to the carriers of contracting parties through ...

ISLAMABAD - Pakistan National Accreditation Council (PNAC) has achieved another landmark as it was recommended for the signing of Mutual Recognition Agreement (MRA) by a team of evaluators of Asia Pacific Laboratory Accreditation Cooperation (APLAC). In this regard, an APLAC team headed by Edgar ...

HELSINKI (AFP) - Russia on Friday slammed the European security body OSCE for failing to prevent the war in Georgia, demanding an inquiry to determine why it did not act and insisting on the need for a new European security pact. "It is clear that the OSCE has not met its main aim: to ensure safety ...