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Imran Khan holds meetings with UAE leaders

Agencies
November 18, 2018

Dubai, Nov 18: Update: Pakistani Prime Minister Imran Khan arrived in Abu Dhabi earlier today on a one-day visit and held meetings with the UAE leaders.

His Highness Shaikh Mohammad Bin Zayed Al Nayan, Crown Prince of Abu Dhabi and Deputy Supreme Commander of the UAE’s Armed Forces received PM Imran upon his arrival in Abu Dhabi.

Imran is accompanied by a high-level delegation including Foreign Minister Shah Mahmood Qureshi, Finance Minister Asad Umar, Petroleum Minister Ghulam Sarwar Khan, Minister of Energy and Power Omar Ayub Khan as well as adviser to PM on Commerce Abdul Razak Dawood. Chief of Army Staff (COAS) of Pakistan General Qamar Javed Bajwa is also accompanying Prime Minister Imran.

This is Imran's second visit to the country, the first official one being on September 19.

Pakistani Prime Minister Imran Khan is coming to the UAE on Sunday, November 18, for the second time in two months.

Earlier report

A top official at Pakistan’s Ministry of Information told Gulf News that Premier Imran will be in Abu Dhabi on Sunday to meet the UAE leadership to seek the financial assistance as part of his continuous campaign to salvage his country’s economic situation.

The PM and his economic team are expected to hold meetings with the UAE leadership and officials, the Ministry official confirmed.

Pakistan’s Foreign Minister, Shah Mahmood Qureshi, has already arrived in the UAE and held a meeting with his UAE counterpart, Shaikh Abdullah Bin Zayed Al Nahyan, on the sidelines of the 9th Sir Bani Yas Forum in Abu Dhabi on Saturday.

Details of the agreements between the UAE and Pakistan are likely to be announced on Sunday.

Shaikh Abdullah has also visited Pakistan early this month as part of the ongoing talks on economic package with Pakistan, a top official told Gulf News.

Shaikh Abdullah has also visited Pakistan early this month as part of the ongoing talks on economic package with Pakistan, a top official told Gulf News.

Foreign Minister Shah Mehmood Qureshi also discussed the "financial package" with the UAE during his ongoing visit, the official said.

Pakistan is expecting a financial package from the UAE amid the economic crisis.

Economy

Last month, Qureshi had said that Pakistan had requested a Saudi Arabia-like deal from the UAE to stabilise the economy.

He said Islamabad had urged the friendly country to provide a "fiscal space" to Pakistan amid the economic crises.

He said Pakistan wanted to counter International Monetary Fund’s tough conditions through support from the friendly countries.

A high-level UAE delegation comprising senior officials of major companies, including Mubadala Petroleum, ADIA (Sovereign Wealth Fund), Etisalat, DP World, Dubai Investment Authority, property developer Emaar, Aldahra Agriculture and Abu Dhabi Fund for Development had met the Foreign Minister in October.

The Sunday visit is a follow-up of Prime Minister Imran Khan’s official visit to Abu Dhabi on September 19 and his understanding with His Highness Shaikh Mohammad Bin Zayed Al Nahyan, to forge closer economic, trade and investment relations between the two countries in all areas of common interest.

Support

In September, Saudi Arabia had agreed to provide $3 billion for one year as balance of payment support and a further one-year deferred payment facility for oil payments up to $3 billion. Economists calculated the impact of the support at $12 billion.

Imran is also scheduled to visit Malaysia on November 20 to discuss economic cooperation with Malaysian PM Mahathir Mohammad.

An IMF team is already visiting Pakistan to negotiate the programme, likely to cover a period of three years.

The Institute of International Finance (IIF) in its latest report said a potential IMF programme for Pakistan could be valued at $15 billion.

The IIF expects an agreement on a three-year IMF programme of $15 billion by end of this year. However, Finance Minister Asad Umar now believes $6-7 billion from the IMF could settle the economic crises.

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News Network
March 19,2020

New Delhi, Mar 19: Hit hard by coronavirus, budget carrier IndiGo today announced that it will cut salaries of senior employees. IndiGo CEO Ronojoy Dutta, who will himself take a 25% cut in salary, said senior vice presidents and above are taking a 20% pay cut while vice presidents and cockpit crew are taking a 15% pay cut.

With precipitous drop in revenues, the very survival of airline industry is now at stake, Dutta said while announcing the pay cut. "We have to pay careful attention to our cash flow so that we do not run out of cash," Dutta said adding that he knew how hard it was for families to take a cut in "take-home pay".

"With a great deal of reluctance and a deep sense of regret, we are therefore instituting pay cuts for all employees, excluding Bands A and B, starting April 1, 2020," the chief executive officer said. Band A and B are the lowest brackets in salary class, where most of the employees are.

IndiGo's flight operations chief Ashim Mitra had written an email to pilots this morning saying that the economic environment has deteriorated significantly and no airline is insulated from this severe downturn.

"It has become a necessity to initiate some tough calls and we are working on a string of measures that will be shared and implemented over the next few days and weeks," Mitra said.

With countries sealing their borders partially or fully across the world due to the novel coronavirus pandemic, aviation sector has been hit extremely hard as most airlines globally have drastically curtailed their flight operations.

Another budget airline GoAir has already terminated contracts of expat pilots amid curtailed operations due to the coronavirus pandemic.

Citing "unprecedented" decline in air travel, the budget carrier announced it was suspending international operations and offering leave without pay programme to its staff on a rotational basis.

Government-owned Air India may also cut salary of employees by 5% amid its growing financial woes particularly in the wake of the coronavirus pandemic, which has nearly grounded its entire international operations. The reduction will be across the board, according to a PTI report.

The loss-making airline, which is in the process of a second attempt of privatization after failing to get a single buyer nearly two years ago, has already taken some steps such as reduced flying allowances to cabin crew besides withdrawing entertainment allowance to executive pilots, among others.

“Air India is considering a 5 per cent pay cut to its employees as it faces huge financial crisis due to the ongoing coronavirus outbreak, which has brought almost its entire international operations save the US, Canada and a few other markets, to the ground," a source told news agency.

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News Network
July 25,2020

New Delhi, Jul 25: India reported a spike of 48,916 coronavirus cases on Saturday, according to the Union Ministry of Health and Family Welfare.

The total COVID-19 positive cases stand at 13,36,861 including 4,56,071 active cases, 8,49,431 cured/discharged/migrated. With 757 deaths in the last 24 hours, the cumulative toll reached 31,358.

Maharashtra has reported 3,57,117 coronavirus cases, the highest among states and Union Territories in the country.

A total of 1,99,749 cases have been reported from Tamil Nadu till now, while Delhi has recorded a total of 1,28,389 coronavirus cases.

According to the Indian Council of Medical Research (ICMR), 4,20,898 samples were tested for coronavirus on Friday and overall 1,58,49,068 samples have been tested so far.

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Agencies
August 2,2020

New Delhi, Aug 2: BCCI president Sourav Ganguly on Sunday said the Women's IPL or the Challenger series, as it is better known, is "very much on", ending speculation about the parent body not having a plan for Harmanpreet Kaur and her team.

The men's IPL will be held between September 19 and November 8 or 10 (final date yet to be locked in) in the UAE due to the surge in Covid-19 cases in India. The women's IPL will also be fit in to the schedule, according to the BCCI chief.

"I can confirm to you that the women's IPL is very much on and we do have a plan in place for the national team also," Ganguly told PTI ahead of the IPL Governing Council meeting later on Sunday.

The BCCI president, who is awaiting a Supreme Court verdict on waiver of the cooling-off period to continue in the position, did not divulge details but another senior official privy to the development said that women's Challenger will be held during the last phase of IPL like last year.

"The women's Challenger series is likely to be held between November 1-10 and there could be a camp before that," the source said.

The former India captain also said that the centrally contracted women players will have a camp which has been delayed due to the prevailing situation in the country.

"We couldn't have exposed any of our cricketers -- be it male or female to health risk. It would have been dangerous," Ganguly said.

"The NCA also remained shut because of Covid-19. But we have a plan in place and we will have a camp for women, I can tell you that," he added.

The BCCI's cricket operations team is chalking up a schedule where Indian women are likely to have two full-fledged white-ball series against South Africa and the West Indies before playing the ODI World Cup in New Zealand. 

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