Pakistan and Belarus agree to strengthen cooperation in industry, health and tourism sectors

ISLAMABAD: Saudi Arabia’s General Authority of Civil Aviation (GACA) has made it mandatory for Umrah pilgrims from Pakistan to receive polio vaccination before traveling to the Kingdom for the spiritual pilgrimage, state broadcaster Radio Pakistan reported this week. 

The development takes place amid a surge in poliovirus cases in Pakistan in recent months, with the South Asian country reporting 73 cases last year and only one this year. Polio is a paralyzing disease with no cure and to ensure immunity, health experts say it is crucial that all children under five complete the oral polio vaccine series.

According to Radio Pakistan, GACA has issued a letter directing Umrah pilgrims from Pakistan to receive polio vaccination at least four weeks before their departure and to carry the vaccination certificate with them. 

“The vaccination should not be more than six months old at the time of departure,” the state broadcaster said. 

The Pakistani state media said Umrah pilgrims and relevant institutions have been asked to “strictly implement” this condition to avoid offloading of pilgrims from the plane.

Pakistan has said it vaccinated over 45 million children in its first anti-polio vaccination campaign of the year conducted last week from Feb. 3-9. 

Pakistan and Afghanistan are the last two countries where polio remains endemic. In the early 1990s, Pakistan reported around 20,000 cases annually but in 2018 the number dropped to eight cases.

Pakistan’s polio program began in 1994, but efforts to eradicate the virus have been hampered by vaccine misinformation, opposition from some religious hard-liners who view immunization as a foreign plot, and frequent attacks on polio vaccination teams by militant groups.

ISLAMABAD: Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif said on Monday that Pakistan was having a “very close interaction” with Saudi Arabia and the United Arab Emirates (UAE) in minerals and mining sectors, amid Islamabad’s efforts to focus on key sectors to boost the country’s economy.
Pakistan’s landscape is a treasure trove of diverse mineral deposits from huge coal reserves in the southern Sindh province to gold and copper deposits in the southwestern Balochistan province. The northwestern Khyber Pakhtunkhwa province is home to several gemstone mines, including emerald mines in Swat, Mardan’s pink topaz mines, and peridot mines in Kohistan.
Petroleum Minister Musadik Malik said last month Pakistan and Saudi Arabia were in “advanced” stages of talks relating to investment in Reko Diq copper and gold mine, one of the world’s largest underdeveloped copper-gold mines, in Balochistan, with Saudi Arabia reportedly offering Pakistan a 15 percent investment stake in the project. The UAE, a key development and investment partner of Pakistan, has also recently expressed its “keen interest” in collaborating with Pakistan in mining, minerals and agriculture sectors, according to PM Sharif’s office.
While this huge mineral potential has remained largely unexplored, Pakistan has expedited efforts in recent months to exploit this untapped potential to speed up its economic growth.
“Mines and minerals, which is generally a G2G [government-to-government] corridor, in this, we are having a very close interaction with the UAE [United Arab Emirates] and Saudi Arabia,” PM Sharif told a group of Pakistani businessmen and investors in Dubai.
Sharif is currently in the UAE to attend the World Governments Summit (WGS) on Feb. 10-11, which brings together a large number of heads of state/government, global policymakers, and leading private sector figures to discuss the future of governance, innovation and international cooperation. This will be Sharif’s second visit to the UAE since assuming office in March last year.
His statement follows remarks by Petroleum Minister Malik, in which he said Pakistan and Saudi Arabia had done all the requisite homework with regard to a “very large asset.”
“Both sides have come up with valuation frameworks, the valuation ranges are in place, and both of the teams are empowered now to negotiate, and right now, we are under non-disclosure. So, I can’t give you the details, but suffice to say that we are expecting very big announcements very soon,” he said, on the sidelines of Future Minerals Forum (FMF) in Riyadh last month.
Reuters reported that Saudi Arabian mining company Manara Minerals could invest in Pakistan’s Reko Diq mine in the next two quarters, citing the Pakistani petroleum minister.
Saudi Arabia is the largest source of remittances to Pakistan, which were recorded at $728.3 million in January, and a key ally, whereas Pakistani policymakers consider the UAE an optimal export destination due to its geographical proximity, which minimizes transportation and freight costs while facilitating commercial transactions.
Pakistan, faced with a prolonged economic crisis, last year also signed several agreements worth $2.8 billion and $3 billion with Saudi Arabia and the UAE, respectively.