Pakistan revives Rajian-11 heavy oil well with advanced artificial lift technology

ISLAMABAD: The Competition Commission of Pakistan (CCP) recently approved a pre-merger application to establish a joint venture between the state-owned National Logistics Corporation (NLC) and the United Arab Emirates’ DP World to enhance and modernize the South Asian country’s logistics sector, state-run media reported. 

DP World, which operates in over 75 countries and specializes in port operations, terminal management and logistics services, is involved heavily in improving Pakistan’s logistics sector. As per an agreement signed in January 2024, DP World will carry out infrastructure improvement at Qasim International Container Terminal, Pakistan’s leading trade gateway.

It is also involved in the Karachi Freight Corridor, an infrastructure project in Pakistan aimed at improving the movement of freight from the port city to various parts of the country.

“The Competition Commission of Pakistan (CCP) has approved the pre-merger application for the establishment of a joint venture between National Logistics Corporation (NLC) and DP World Logistics FZE (DWLF),” state-run Associated Press of Pakistan (APP) reported on Sunday. 

It said that the investment, facilitated by Pakistan’s top investment body Special Investment Facilitation Council (SIFC), aims to enhance the country’s logistics and freight industry while ensuring fair competition in the market.

The state-run media said the transaction involves NLC acquiring a 60 percent equity stake in the joint venture and DWLF holding the remaining 40 percent.

“The venture aims to enhance Pakistan’s road freight logistics sector by leveraging NLC’s domestic expertise and DP World’s global supply chain solutions,” APP said. 

The CCP determined that the transaction does not result in a “substantial lessening of competition” or the creation of a dominant market position, adding that its analysis concluded that the market remains competitive with multiple players ensuring continued competition despite the merger.

“The joint venture highlights Pakistan’s growing appeal for foreign investment in logistics,” APP said. “It is expected to improve infrastructure, lower transport costs, and boost Pakistan’s trade competitiveness in the region.”

The UAE is Pakistan’s third-largest trading partner after China and the United States, and a major source of foreign investment, valued at over $10 billion in the last 20 years, according to the UAE foreign ministry. It is also home to more than a million Pakistani expatriates.

In January last year, Pakistan and the UAE signed multiple agreements worth more than $3 billion for cooperation in railways, economic zones and infrastructure.

ISLAMABAD: Pakistan’s National Assembly Speaker Sardar Ayaz Sadiq has convened a meeting of the Parliamentary Committee on National Security tomorrow, Tuesday, the National Assembly spokesperson has said, to discuss the prevalent security situation in the country amid a surge in militant attacks. 

The development follows a sharp rise in militant attacks last week in Pakistan’s southwestern Balochistan province. The most prominent of these attacks was led by the separatist Baloch Liberation Army (BLA) outfit last Tuesday, whose fighters stormed the Jaffar Express train in a remote mountain pass in Balochistan after blowing up train tracks. The militants held over 400 passengers hostage in a day-long standoff before the military rescued them. Pakistan security forces killed 33 insurgents, rescued 354 hostages before bringing the siege to a close on Wednesday, according to army spokesperson Lt. Gen. Ahmed Sharif Chaudhry. A final count showed 23 soldiers, three railway employees and five passengers had died in the attack.

At least five people, including three paramilitary soldiers, were killed on Sunday in a suicide blast in Balochistan’s Nushki district, the military said. 

“Speaker National Assembly Sardar Ayaz Sadiq has convened an in-camera meeting of the Parliamentary Committee on National Security on the advice of Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif,” the National Assembly spokesperson said in a statement on Sunday. 

The meeting will be held at the National Assembly Hall on Tuesday at 1:30 pm, the spokesperson said, adding that the military would brief the committee on the country’s prevalent security situation. 

“Parliamentary leaders of all political parties present in parliament and their nominated representatives will attend the meeting,” the spokesperson said. “Cabinet members will also attend the national security meeting.”

Pakistan’s western provinces bordering Afghanistan and Iran have witnessed a surge in attacks since November 2022, after a fragile truce between the Tehreek-e-Taliban Pakistan (TTP) militant outfit and the state collapsed. The TTP has carried out some of the deadliest attacks against Pakistan’s security forces and civilians since 2007 in the northwestern Khyber Pakhtunkhwa (KP) province. 

Pakistan accuses the government in Afghanistan of sheltering TTP militants, allegations which have strained ties between the two neighbors and prompted strong denials from the Afghan Taliban. 

In oil-and-mineral-rich Balochistan, Pakistan’s largest and least populated province, ethnic Baloch separatists have long accused the central government of denying locals of a share in the province’s resources. Islamabad and Pakistan’s military strongly reject the allegations. 

The military has a huge presence in Balochistan and has long run intelligence-based operations against insurgent groups such as the BLA, who have escalated attacks in recent months on the military and nationals from longtime ally China, which is building key projects in the region, including a port at Gwadar.

More than 50 people, including security forces, were killed in August last year in a string of assaults in Balochistan claimed by the BLA.