1 (9Th Session) NATIONAL ASSEMBLY SECRETARIAT
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1 (9th Session) NATIONAL ASSEMBLY SECRETARIAT ———— “QUESTIONS FOR ORAL ANSWERS AND THEIR REPLIES” to be asked at a sitting of the National Assembly to be held on Friday, the 3rd May, 2019 179. *Choudhary Faqir Ahmad: Will the Minister for Inter-Provincial Coordination be pleased to state: (a) whether it is a fact that Dispute Resolution Committee (DRC) of the International Cricket Council (ICC) had dismissed 70 million dollars compensation claim of Pakistan Cricket Board (PCB) against Board of Control for Cricket in India (BCCI) recently; (b) whether it is also a fact that DRC of ICC ordered the PCB to pay 60 percent of the costs incurred by the BCCI and ICC as the administrative costs and expenses of the panel; (c) if so, the amount which has been paid to BCCI and ICC in this regard; (d) whether PCB made cost-benefit analysis before going to DRC on the matter; if so, the details; if not, the reasons thereof; and (e) the total cost which has to borne by PCB itself in legal proceedings and pleadings of the matter in DRC alongwith persons who visited abroad in this regard? 2 Minister for Inter-Provincial Coordination (Dr. Fehmida Mirza): (a) The DRC vide its Order dated 20th November 2018 dismissed PCB’s claim and reserved costs. (b) On 12th December 2018, in furtherance of the DRC Order dated 20-11-2018, the DRC directed PCB to pay 60% of BCCI’s Legal Cost and 60% of DRC’s Costs and Expenses. Further ordered that the reminder 40% be paid by BCCI. (c) The following amounts have been paid by PCB as costs in compliance with DRC’s order dated 12th December 2018: (i) USD 113,757 to ICC (ii) USD 1,527,230 to BCCI (d) PCB management and its Board of Governors carried out a detailed analysis of the merits of PCB’s claim. It also sought legal opinions from the following independent Lawyers/Law Firms from three jurisdictions (i.e. England & Wales, Pakistan and the United Arab Emirates) and only pursued the matter before the DRC after receiving favourable opinions from all: i. LMA / Ebrahim & Hosain (Pakistan) ii. Clifford Chance LLP (England & Wales) iii. Lord Pannick QC (England & Wales) iv. Afridi & Angell (UAE) (e) Out of the total budget approved, the following expenses were incurred by PCB in relation to the above: i. Professional Legal Fee of Ebrahim & Hosain Rs. 26,130,642 ii. Professional Legal Fee of Clifford Chance LLP Rs. 30,400,000 iii. Professional Legal Fee for Opinion by Lord Pannick QC Rs. 4,581,253 iv. Professional Legal Fee for Opinion by Afridi & Angell Rs. 711,460 v. Travel & Accommodation (PCB Officials) Rs. 9,072,475 vi. Others/Miscellaneous Rs. 39,641 Total Rs. 70,935,472 3 180. *Sheikh Rohale Asghar: Will the Minister for Foreign Affairs be pleased to state the steps taken or being taken by the present Government to reduce the expenditures of Pakistani Embassies abroad till date? Minister for Foreign Affairs (Makhdoom Shah Mahmood Hussain Qureshi): A Major portion of the budget comprises non- developmental expenditure including establishment charges to cater for day to day routine operational expenditure, pay and allowance of officials etc. Strict financial controls are in place to ensure financial proprietary. Besides, austerity measures announced by the government from time to time are also being implemented in letter and spirit. 181. *Ms. Uzma Riaz: Will the Minister for Inter-Provincial Coordination be pleased to state: (a) the details of cases pending against Pakistan Cricket Board (PCB) in various courts of the country indicating also the names of attorneys and law firms hired for pleading each of the same; and (b) the details of attorneys on the panel of PCB apart from those hired for the said cases? Minister for Inter-Provincial Coordination (Dr. Fehmida Mirza): (a) The relevant details are attached herewith as Annexure ‘A’. (b) PCB’s panel of lawyers currently comprises the following lawyers/law firms: 1. M/s Cornelius, Lane & Mufti 2. M/s Law Inn 3. M/s Sayeed, Hafeez & Co 4. M/s Ernest & Kamran 5. M/s Haseeb & Omer Associates 4 6. Mr. Ahmad Warraich 7. Rana Muhammad Asif Saeed 8. Mr. Manzoor Ahmad Warraich 9. Rao Shafqat Ali Khan 10. Mr. Arfanullah Khan 11. M/s Raza & Khan 12. Mr. Salman Hamid Afridi 13. M/s Shaukat Law Associates 14. Syed Hasnain Haider 15. M/s Raza Khalil Abbasi Suhrawardy 5 182. *Ms. Nafeesa Inayatullah Khan Khattak: Will the Minister for Commerce and Textile be pleased to state: (a) the total share of our halal food exports in international market at present in comparison with Brazil, India etc. indicating also the share of halal meat at present; and (b) the steps being taken by the present Government to increase the said share especially to increase its halal exports to Organization of Islamic Cooperation countries? Minister for Commerce and Textile: (a) Authentic data relating to export of halal food is not available. However, as Pakistan is an Islamic country, therefore, all edible goods fall in the categories of halal foods. Exports of certain edible goods of Pakistan, India and Brazil is given below:— Value in US $ Thousand ———————————————————————————— Sr. Edible Total Halal No. Country Rice vegetable Fish Meat Food ———————————————————————————— 1 Pakistan 2,016,378 250,608 432,322 228,434 2,927,742 2 India 7,399,161 1,230,385 6,349,817 3,726,988 188706,351 3 Brazil 467,911 113,521 250,661 13,292,305 14,124,398 ———————————————————————————— Source: Trade Map (b) Pakistan is promoting culture of Halal Food certification and from July, 2019 Halal certification will be required for importers and local producers. Pakistan has witnessed an increase in total trade of halal food with OIC countries in 2017-18. The total trade of the halal food increased from USD 226.97 million (2016-17) to USD 258.3 million in 2017-18. The details of the trade between Pakistan and OIC countries is as follows:- 6 Bilateral Trade of Halal Food Between Pakistan and OIC (US $ Million) ———————————————————————————— Year Exports Imports Total Trade ———————————————————————————— 2015-16 222.04 19.26 241.30 2016-17 202.18 24.78 226.97 2017-18 222.39 35.94 258.33 ———————————————————————————— Source: FBR In order to enhance the exports of Halal food Products to the OIC countries, the present Government has taken the following steps: 1. The 2nd meeting of Pak-Saudi Joint Working Group on Trade was held on September (5th), 2018 at Islamabad to discuss Trade and investment opportunities in both the countries and prospects of export enhancement. During the meeting the issues of Ban on shrimps from KSA, registration of meat slaughter houses and companies was taken up with the Saudi Side. As a result, Six Meat exporting companies have been registered with the Saudi Food Drug Authority and are exporting meat to KSA. 2. The 4th Session of Pak- Kuwait JMC was held on 27-28th September 2018 in Islamabad. During the meeting enhancing cooperation between the two countries in the field of Food and Agriculture was also discussed. 3. 7th Session of Pak- Oman JMC was held in Muscat on 30th - 31st January 2019. During the meeting enhancing cooperation between the two countries in the field of Food and Agriculture was also discussed. 4. Recently, 3 Meat Slaughterhouses (Fauji Meat, CATCO, Halal) in Pakistan have been registered by UAE. UAE’s technical team will visit Pakistan in near future for registration of 2 more Meat Slaughterhouses. 5. Similarly as a result of the efforts of the mission in Bahrain three new companies were registered to supply meat in Bahrain which 7 include M/s Fauji Meat, M/s Halal Meat and M/s Simply the Great Food (Pvt.) Ltd. in 2018. 6. Iran has recently allowed its traders to import meat from Pakistan. Previously, it was importing meat only from Brazil but now this restriction has been removed. This year a number of Iranian companies have started business in the import of meat from Pakistan. 7. An agreement for mutual recognition is under consideration between Department of Plant Protection (DPP) and Kenya Plant Health Inspectorate Service (KEPHIS). 8. Pakistan is participating in different fairs to promote its halal food exports to countries of OIC and other regions of the globe (Annex-I). 8 183. *Ms. Zille Huma: Will the Minister for Overseas Pakistanis and Human Resource Development be pleased to state whether it is a fact that skilled persons are being required from other countries to meet the shortage of skilled workers in Ireland, Germany and other countries; if so, the steps being taken by the Ministry to send the skilled workers to said countries from Pakistan alongwith complete detail? Minister for Overseas Pakistanis and Human Resource Development: Our Mission in Germany has indicated demand for skilled manpower to meet the shortage of manpower in that country. Ministry of Overseas Pakistanis and Human Resource Development (OP&HRD) in collaboration with relevant stakeholders such as National Vocational and Technical Training Commission (NAVTTC) etc. is making all possible efforts to impart training to intending emigrants in various trades/ categories. A Task Force on the directions of the ECC has been constituted comprising all stakeholders under the supervision of Special Assistant to the Prime Minister (SAPM) on OP&HRD to holistically look into the issues of overseas employment promotion and imparting technical, training to workers and submit recommendations. A pilot project on skill upgradation had also been initiated in collaboration with UAE. Under this project, National Qualification Authority, UAE had accredited 4 technical institutes of Pakistan and 15 more are in pipeline for accreditation.