The completion of eight ongoing water and hydropower projects by Water and Power Development Authority (WAPDA) is set to significantly enhance Pakistan’s water storage capacity and hydel power generation. The carry-over water capacity in the country will increase from 30 to 45 days, with an additional 9.7 MAF water storage.

During a visit to WAPDA House, a delegation from PAF Air War College Karachi, led by Air Commodore Raja Imran Asghar, received a comprehensive briefing. The delegation comprised officers from Pakistan and allied nations.

Read: Water projects presented to Turkish consultants

The delegation learned about the climate change threats and water security challenges faced by Pakistan. WAPDA’s ongoing projects, such as Diamer Basha Dam, Mohmand Dam, and others, were highlighted as crucial for the water, food, and energy security of the country.

Published in The Express Tribune, November 28^th, 2023.

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A Pakistani delegation, led by Hussain Haider, Pakistan’s Consul General in Shanghai, visited Shengze Oriental Textile City in Suzhou, China, and met with representatives from local textile enterprises.

During the meeting, Haider introduced the trade and investment environment of Pakistan and China, with a particular focus on the preferential policies available to Chinese investors in Pakistan. “Currently, Pakistan’s textile exports to China mainly consist of cotton yarn, apparel, cotton fabrics, and home textiles, with cotton yarn accounting for 73% of the total,” he stated.

Expressing a strong desire for deep cooperation with Shengze’s silk and textile industry cluster, he extended an invitation to Shengze’s enterprises to visit Pakistan and gain first-hand knowledge of the trade and investment policies.

Shengze is renowned for its robust silk and textile industry with a rich history. To gain insights into the dynamics of the textile sector and explore potential collaborations, the delegation toured several textile enterprises in Shengze Oriental Textile City and reached preliminary cooperation intentions. Haider said, “We hope to further communicate and connect with Shengze Oriental Textile City. We sincerely invite Shengze’s enterprises to invest and establish factories in Pakistan, aiming to achieve mutual benefits and contribute to the deepening of China-Pakistan cooperation.”

Read: Chinese manufacturers to help textile industry

Agro-forestry Economy

The third Science and Technology Exchange Conference on China-Pakistan Tropical Arid Non-wood Forest is being held both online and offline from November 26 to 28 in Zhengzhou, China, and Gwadar, Pakistan, simultaneously.

The exchange conference aims to showcase achievements and research progress of both nations in the field of economic forestry. It also seeks to facilitate academic exchanges of woody medicinal herbs and active substances between China and Pakistan.

The event, co-hosted by the Chinese Society of Forestry (CSF) and Central South University of Forestry and Technology (CSUFT), drew over 220 officials, scholars, students, and business representatives from both countries.

In 2021, CSUFT, China Overseas Port Holding Company, and Yulin Holdings collaborated to establish an Engineering Research Centre for Tropical Arid Non-wood Forest.

THE ARTICLE ORIGINALLY APPEARED ON THE CHINA ECONOMIC NET

Published in The Express Tribune, November 28^th, 2023.

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The United Arab Emirate’s largest raw and value-added mineral supplier and importer, National Trust (NT), has entered into a memorandum of understanding (MoU) with a Pakistani firm to develop a strategic partnership with an investment of 30 million UAE Dirham to mine, acquire, and process aluminium ore in Punjab and potentially export it to the Middle East.

In a notification to the Pakistan Stock Exchange (PSX), Kohinoor Spinning Mills Limited (KSML) announced the development on Monday, stating, “We are in serious discussions with UAE and Pakistan-based stakeholders to transform the (textile) company into a mining and mineral technology company as KOMS is strategically located near mineral reservoirs and possesses a vast area of 81.5 acres (652 Kanals) of freehold land.”

NT plans to invest approximately 30 million UAE Dirham (around Rs2.5 billion) in establishing a raw and value-added mineral-based business in Pakistan.

For this purpose, KOSM intends to install an Ore Beneficiation Plant with the sponsorship of NT in their current facility to process bauxite (aluminium ore) to improve its purity, and it may take only six to eight months to be ready as NT shall arrange all technical and procurement support in this regard.

KOMS will be a partner in this project, managing and allocating its facilities in Chakwal and sorting all government approvals.

“The board of directors has agreed to pursue the strategic partnership with The National Trust Holdings, Abu Dhabi, UAE through its subsidiary EMNOC… has authorised its CEO to execute and implement this project,” the local company said in the notification.

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Bauxite (aluminium ore) is available in excess quantity in the Khushab area and is mainly used by aluminium refineries worldwide to produce aluminium. “NT and KOMS have done complete ground research and laboratory surveys through SGS Pakistan.”

Apart from bauxite, Pakistan has reserves of barite, calcium fluoride (fluorspar), copper, phosphate, etc., and NT has also shown interest in procuring these minerals through KOMS.

The local company, located in Chakwal and in close proximity to the Khushab area, has plans to secure leases for some mines in this region where there are millions of tonnes of bauxite reserves.

NT has been importing minerals mainly from Africa and other countries but has never sourced them from Pakistan. It is one of the largest raw and value-added mineral suppliers and importers in the UAE, supplying well-known companies in the GCC, including Emirates Gulf Aluminium and Adnoc.

KOMS has also installed a 2MW solar power plant with the support of a Singapore-based green technology fund, it added.

Published in The Express Tribune, November 28^th, 2023.

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