Month: July 2026

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HEC, Wuhan Textile University discuss enhanced academic, research collaboration


Islamabad: The Higher Education Commission (HEC) Pakistan hosted a high-level delegation from the School of Biomedical Engineering, Wuhan Textile University (WTU), China, for a meeting aimed at advancing bilateral cooperation in higher education, research, and innovation.



Executive Director HEC Dr. Zia Ul Haq chaired the meeting, attended by senior HEC officers and representatives of National University of Technology (NUTECH), Pakistan Science Foundation (PSF), Ministry of Science and Technology, and other relevant stakeholders.



Welcoming the delegation, the Executive Director HEC reaffirmed the Commission’s commitment to fostering strategic international partnerships that contribute to academic excellence, research advancement, institutional capacity building, and sustainable knowledge exchange. He underscored the significance of strengthening collaborative engagement between Pakistani and Chinese higher education institutions in line with the shared aspirations of both countries.



The delegation from Wuhan Textile University presented an overview of the University’s academic portfolio, highlighting its expertise in textile and fibre technology, sensor technology, and genetic engineering. The delegation also apprised the participants of WTU’s ongoing collaborations with the National University of Technology (NUTECH) and the Institute of Space Technology (IST), while expressing its interest in broadening institutional linkages with additional universities across Pakistan.



During the discussions, both sides deliberated on avenues for expanding academic cooperation through joint research initiatives, faculty and student mobility programmes, joint supervision of postgraduate students, sandwich programmes, and undergraduate-level academic collaboration. The Chinese delegation emphasized the importance of Chinese language proficiency for Pakistani students aspiring to pursue undergraduate studies in China. In this regard, it was proposed that Chinese language programmes be promoted within Pakistani universities to facilitate greater access to higher education opportunities and enhance graduates’ employability in China.



The delegation also conveyed its willingness to support HEC under the Belt and Road Initiative through collaborative academic conferences, curriculum development for undergraduate and postgraduate programmes, and initiatives aimed at promoting textile and fibre technology as an academic discipline within Pakistani higher education institutions.



Following comprehensive deliberations, both sides agreed to pursue several priority areas of cooperation. HEC will identify interested Pakistani universities to initiate undergraduate academic collaboration with Wuhan Textile University, enabling institutions to subsequently establish formal partnerships through Memoranda of Understanding (MoUs). Opportunities for faculty exchange programmes would also be explored to strengthen academic engagement and collaborative research.



The participants further agreed to examine mechanisms for promoting Chinese language programmes in Pakistani universities, including potential collaboration with the National University of Modern Languages (NUML). In addition, both sides resolved to explore short-term certification and technical training programmes for university technicians in collaboration with Wuhan Textile University to reinforce institutional technical capacity.



The meeting concluded with a vote of thanks to the visiting delegation and a renewed commitment to further consolidating academic and research cooperation between Pakistan and China through sustained institutional collaboration.



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Aurangzeb says new tax AI-led model to issue notices; current account remains strong, remittances expected to $42bn


Karachi: Federal Minister for Finance and Revenue Senator Muhammad Aurangzeb on Tuesday said that the current account performance remains strong due to record remittance flows.

“We do expect our overall remittances for this year to close anywhere between $41 to $42 billion.”

Addressing the second edition of Pakistan Banking Summit 2026 at a local hotel here, he said that the last fiscal year was closed on a strong note across all matrices, starting with the fiscal side, a primary surplus, an all-time low fiscal deficit, debt-to-GDP ratio well below 70 percent, GDP growth closing at 3.7 percent on the back of strong rebound in LSM.

The Finance Minister Muhammad Aurangzeb said we talk about the dip in exports and indeed from the good side there is a dip but that dip is concentrated on the food side and value added especially on the textile side has continued to register year-on-year.

He believed that the Foreign Exchange reserves will close at about $18.4 billion for this fiscal year, which is higher than
the estimates that had earlier.

Aurangzeb said we started with the Eurobond and the most significant trade has been the Panda Bond because we have been at it at least for the last seven to eight years and not tapping the second largest, second deepest capital market in the world, has been a miss on our part.

Speaking about the Pakistan Stock Exchange, he said that the activity drivers are more important than the PSX numbers and the number of investors which have grown and more importantly, the Gen Z investors are coming in as well as then the corporate profitability which has returned to double digits.

Referring to this year’s budget, he said that the budget for the first time was led by the Tax Policy Office, which has been moved to the Finance Division.

He said, ‘We focused on export-led growth, removing the advance tax, removing the super tax, low-cost subsidized financing, and continuing with the tariff regime.’

Aurangzeb thanked the Prime Minister and the Cabinet in this regard.

He said we are also
going to come up with a medium-term tax strategy.

He said that the Parliament has introduced new tax administration operating model and it has approved the new structure because it is a new engagement model between the tax administration and the taxpayers, where the human intervention is going to be minimal. He further said that it is a very fundamental change because this is a model which is AI and technology led and notices will be issued by it.

Aurangzeb said that access to finance and therefore the banking industry will remain absolutely critical in terms of our journey from stabilization to sustainable growth. Increased lending to SMEs, exporters, agriculture, manufacturing, construction and IT industries is going to be mission-critical.

He said, ‘I think we have moved in the right direction, but there’s a long, long way to go.’

Speaking on privatization, he said that PIA which is now securely in the private sector’s hands and there are three discos, whose roadshow is also complete as well as 28 inst
itutions have been handed over to the Privatization Commission.

He also lauded PBA and sought suggestions from the Summit.

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Hot, humid weather forecast for Sindh


Karachi: Pakistan Meteorological Department on Friday forecast hot and humid weather in most districts of Sindh province during the next 24 hours.



However, partly cloudy weather is predicted in coastal areas of the province.



Mainly, hot and humid weather is likely to prevail in the province.



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Aurangzeb says new tax AI-led model to issue notices; current account remains strong, remittances for this year expected


Karachi: Federal Minister for Finance and Revenue, Senator Muhammad Aurangzeb on Tuesday said that the current account performance remained strong due to record remittance flows.



“We do expect our overall remittances for this year to close anywhere between US$ 41 to US$ 42 billion.”



Addressing the second edition of Pakistan Banking Summit 2026 here, he said that the last fiscal year was closed on a strong note across all matrices, starting with the fiscal side, a primary surplus, an all-time low fiscal deficit, debt-to-GDP ratio well below 70 percent, GDP growth closing at 3.7 percent on the back of strong rebound in LSM.



The Minister said they talked about the dip in exports and indeed from the good side there was a dip but that dip was concentrated on the food side and value added especially on the textile side has continued to register year-on-year.



He believed that the Foreign Exchange reserves would close at about US$ 18.4 billion for this fiscal year, which was higher than the estimates that had earlier.



Aurangzeb said they started with the Eurobond and the most significant trade has been the Panda Bond because they had been at it at least for the last seven to eight years and not tapping the second largest, second deepest capital market in the world, has been a miss on our part.



Speaking about the Pakistan Stock Exchange, he said that the activity drivers were more important than the PSX numbers and the number of investors which had grown and more importantly, the Gen Z investors were coming in as well as then the corporate profitability which had returned to double digits.



Referring to this year’s budget, he said that the budget for the first time was led by the Tax Policy Office, which has been moved to the Finance Division.



He said, ‘We focused on export-led growth, removing the advance tax, removing the super tax, low-cost subsidized financing, and continuing with the tariff regime.’



Aurangzeb thanked the Prime Minister and the Cabinet in this regard.



He said they were also going to come up with a medium-term tax strategy.



He said that the Parliament had introduced new tax administration operating model and it has approved the new structure because it was a new engagement model between the tax administration and the taxpayers, where the human intervention was going to be minimal. He further said that it was a very fundamental change because this was a model which was AI and technology led and notices would be issued by it.



Aurangzeb said the banking industry would remain absolutely critical in terms of our journey from stabilization to sustainable growth. Increased lending to SMEs, exporters, agriculture, manufacturing, construction and IT industries was going to be mission critical.



He said, ‘I think we have moved in the right direction, but there’s a long, long way to go.’



Speaking on privatization, he said that Pakistan International Airline which was now securely in the private sector hands and there were three discos, whose roadshow was also complete as well as 28 institutions have been handed over to the Privatization Commission.



He also lauded PBA and sought suggestions from the Summit.



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FUUAST, Providentia books foundation sign MoU to promote education, research


Karachi: The Federal Urdu University of Arts, Sciences and Technology (FUUAST) and the Providentia Books Foundation (PBF) on Tuesday signed a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) aimed at strengthening collaboration in education, research, innovation and literacy promotion.



The MoU was signed by FUUAST Director of the Office of Research, Innovation and Commercialisation (ORIC), Dr Hina Mudassir, on behalf of the university, while Mr Shahaan Qamar, Manager of Providentia Books Foundation, signed on behalf of the foundation. FUUAST Registrar Prof Dr Syed Inayat Ali Shah witnessed the signing ceremony.



The ceremony was also attended by Prof Dr Abdul Majeed and Dr Saadia Khalil.



The agreement seeks to establish a framework for academic and research collaboration through joint workshops, seminars, training programmes, research initiatives, innovation projects and literacy promotion activities. The partnership is expected to provide meaningful learning and research opportunities for students, faculty members and the wider academic community.



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Sindh minister terms swift resolution of public issues a top priority


Karachi: Sindh Minister for Industries and Commerce, Jam Ikramullah Dharejo, Tuesday, said that timely resolution of the public issues is among the top priorities of the government and all available resources are being utilized to provide maximum relief to people.



The provincial minister, during separate meetings with various delegations and public representatives, listened to issues of the delegations with great attention and assured the necessary action for their immediate and effective solution, said a statement issued here.



Resolving the problems of the people at their doorsteps is an important part of the vision of the Sindh government and no legitimate complaint of any citizen will be ignored, Ikramullah Dharejo stated, adding that maintaining constant contact with the public and resolving their problems on a priority basis is true public service.