Senate Secretariat ————— “Questions for Oral Answers and Their Replies”
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1 (269th Session) SENATE SECRETARIAT ————— “QUESTIONS FOR ORAL ANSWERS AND THEIR REPLIES” to be asked at a sitting of the Senate to be held on Wednesday, the 1st November, 2017 @*Question No. 8. Senator Mohammad Azam Khan Swati: (Notice received on 26-09-2017 at 12:00 p.m.) Will the Minister for Postal Services be pleased to state: (a) the profit earned or loss suffered by the Pakistan Post Office Department during the last two years; and (b) the steps taken by the Government to improve the working and efficiency of the said department and bringing transparency and make the same profitable during the said period? Moulana Ameer Zaman: (a) The year wise deficit (loss) suffered by the Pakistan Post Office Department during the last two financial years is given as under: (Figures in Million Rs.) —————————————————————————————— Year Deficit (loss) —————————————————————————————— 2015-16 7,488.924 2016-17 9,306.548 —————————————————————————————— (b) To foster further development and diversification of postal services as well as to cater the varied needs of the customers, specially trade and commerce, Pakistan Post is offering a full range of Traditional and Express Postal Services which carry all those features which are offered by the private sector operators including competitive rates. —————————————————————————————— @ Deferred on 24th October, 2017. 2 Following steps have been taken by Pakistan Post Management to improve the working and efficiency of the department. INTRODUCTION OF UMS-CASH ON DELIVERY SERVICE (UMS-COD) Pakistan Post has introduced a new service namely “UMS-CASH ON DELIVERY”. Packets, parcels and printed papers prepaid with postage of UMS fee may be transmitted by the inland post as COD articles, provided that the amount specified for remittance to the sender in the case of any such articles does not exceed Rs.100,000/-. At present, the UMS COD Service is available in 226 cities and towns of the country. INTRODUCTION OF ELECTRONIC MONEY ORDER SERVICE (EMO). Electronic Money Order (EMO) is the swift way to transfer money from one post office to other post office. The EMO Service is considered as the safe, affordable and accurate to transfer money in Pakistan among 83 GPOs. SALIENT FEATURES OF ELECTRONIC MONEY ORDER (EMO) Booking of money orders at the counters Instant Transmission of money order Available to en-cash at any GPO instantly More secure with unique transaction identifier SMS notification to the customers for Post to Post Service. ENHANCING MAXIMUM LIMIT OF URGENT MONEY ORDERS (UMO) To cater the varied needs of the customers and to enhance the scope of the service, maximum limit of a single Urgent Money Order has been enhanced from Rs. 10,000/- to Rs.20,000/- and for UMS-COD a single Urgent Money Order has been enhanced from Rs. 20,000/- to Rs. 100,000/-. 3 EXPANSION OF EXPRESS POST TRACK & TRACE SYSTEM (EMTTS) Express Mail Track & Trace System (EMTTS) which is available at 83 General Post Offices (GPOs), 03 Post Malls, 04 Post Offices and 52 District Mail Offices (DMOS). Provision of SMS intimation to sender and recipient regarding delivery and booking of EP articles Established Call Center for Customer on modern lines. MOTORIZATION OF POSTMEN BEATS. For prompt disposal of Postal Mail Pakistan Post has provided 1961 motor cycles to Postmen. AGREEMENT WITH NADRA Pakistan Post has recently signed an agreement with NADRA regarding Renewal/Modification and Delivery of CNIC throughout Pakistan. The pilot Project is underway in ten Postal Locations which will be extended throughout the country. The scheme will generate revenue for Pakistan Post as well as provide facility to the general public. SAME DAY DELIVERY SERVICE AT LAHORE AS PILOT PROJECT. To counter the market penetration of the private courier companies and to diversify services portfolio to capture emerging market segments in Lahore City, Same Day Delivery Service was launched for Lahore City on experimental basis at selected Post Offices for selected areas with special rates, by utilizing existing human, technical and budgetary resources. Business statistics and customer response is very encouraging and reflects success of the service. Following steps are under process to improve postal service in the near future: Pakistan Post has taken steps for successful implementation of Reform agenda approved by the Honorable Prime Minister of Pakistan and initiated following three projects: 4 1. Mobile Money Transfer Solution 2. Pakistan Post Logistics Company 3. Re-branding of Pakistan Post 1. Mobile Money Transfer Solution: PM approved this project under Public Private Partnership basis. Pakistan Post will convert its all manual money transfer services into latest digital system meeting international standards. The services include in this system are (i) Pension (ii) Micro-finance (iii) G2P / Poverty Alleviation Schemes (iv) POS (v) ATM (vi) e-commerce (vii) Insurance (viii) International remittances (ix) Wallet Cards; and (x) Mobile Applications etc. 2. Pakistan Post Logistics Company PM also approved this project under Public Private Partnership basis. Under this Project Pakistan Post has established Logistics Company i.e., POSTLOG. This Company will provide latest technology based logistics services to the general public of Pakistan. 3. Re-branding of Pakistan Post Developing Post Office as a brand and center of convenience & technology. Up-gradation of appearance and facilities in the post offices for its better look and feel. 4. Another project of NIPA Korea is in collaboration with Korea Post is under progress for automation of post offices. This project will be completed in three phases. To brining transparency in the department Pakistan Post follows and implements the PPRA Rules in letter and spirit. @*Question No. 23 Senator Chaudhary Tanvir Khan: (Notice received on 29-09-2017 at 11:30 a.m.) Will the Minister for Foreign Affairs he pleased to slate: @ Deferred on 24th October, 2017. 5 (a) the names of foreign countries which have established their Embassies and Missions in Pakistan with city wise break up; (b) the number of staff authorized or allowed for each of the said Embassies and Missions indicating also the actual number of local and foreign persons working in each of the same with designation wise break up; and (c) the number of Pakistani visas obtained by those Embassies and Missions for their staff during the last five years with year wise and embassy / mission wise break up? Khawaja Muhammad Asif: (a) Attached is a list of Foreign Embassies/ High Commissions located in Islamabad (Total 79); Representative Office (1) and Consulates (total 34) located in Peshawar, Karachi, Quetta and Lahore at Annex-A. (b) The latest Directory containing information of diplomatic staff of Foreign Missions in Pakistan has been placed at Annex-B. Foreign Missions have employed local-based staff keeping in view their own administrative rules. However, the Foreign Diplomatic Missions could be asked to give such statistics which may take considerable time. (c) After first arrival in Pakistan, visas of all diplomats, staff and their families are processed by the Ministry of Interior. The Ministry of Interior has been requested to furnish the information to the Senate of Pakistan. (Annexures have been placed on the Table of the House as well as Library.) *Question No. 124 Senator Mohammad Azam Khan Swati: (Notice received on 27-09-2017 at 03:00 p.m.) Will the Minister for National Food Security and Research be pleased to state whether the Government has carried out any study / assessment of the Agricultural products which can be exported, if so, the details thereof? Mr. Sikandar Hayat Khan Bosan: Various studies have been conducted by the Ministry of National Food Security and Research through PARC, Social 6 Sciences Division on export potential of Pakistan’s agricultural sector. One of the most comprehensive studies analyzed following seven potential sub-sectors of agriculture for export. Major findings are summarized below. 1. Fish and crustacean (HS-03): Gradually its competitiveness has improved and Pakistan has sufficient potential to expand its export to South Korea, Saudi Arabia, United Kingdom, Spain and Malaysia. 2. Edible fruits and nuts (HS-08): Iran, UAE. Thailand, Russian Federation, and China are the potential markets for the export of edible fruits and nuts from Pakistan. 3. Cereals (HS-10): This sub sector has great export potential in lower income and upper middle-income countries. USA, India, Turkey, Egypt, Philippines, Singapore, Bangladesh, France, Germany and Russian Federation have the numerous potential for cereal export from Pakistan. 4. Sugar and Sugar confectionaries (HS-17): Spain, India, Turkey, Germany, Afghanistan and Philippines are the potential markets for the export of sugar and sugar confectioneries. 5. Beverages (HS-22): Export of this sub-sector increase with countries tied in trade agreement with Pakistan. Afghanistan, Bahrain, Belgium, France, India, Italy, Japan. Netherlands, Norway, Philippines, Saudi Arabia, Singapore, South Africa, Spain, Sri Lanka, Sweden, Turkey, and USA are the potential markets for the export of beverages. 6. Raw Skin and hides (HS-41): Lower and upper middle-income countries have great potential with Germany has the highest potential for export of raw skin and hide. 7. Cotton (HS-52): Cotton has consistent export competitiveness in the world market. Malaysia, Kenya, Jordan, Thailand, Mauritius, Netherlands, Norway, Australia and Russian Federation are the potential markets for the