Telephone Call between Bilawal Bhutto Zardari and the United States’ Secretary of State 

Islamabad, May 07, 2022 (PPI-OT):Foreign Minister Bilawal Bhutto Zardari received a telephone call today from the United States’ Secretary of State, Antony Blinken. During the phone call, Secretary Blinken congratulated Foreign Minister Bilawal Bhutto Zardari on assumption of his Office and expressed the desire to continue strengthening mutually beneficial Pakistan-U.S. bilateral relationship.

Exchanging views on various aspects of Pakistan-U.S. relations, the Foreign Minister underscored that Pakistan and the United States have a longstanding broad-based relationship. He added that constructive and sustained engagement between the two countries on the basis of mutual respect and mutual interest was vital to promote peace, development and security in the region and beyond. The Foreign Minister emphasized that Pakistan’s vision was focused on human development, regional connectivity, and a peaceful neighbourhood.

Building on the Pakistan-U.S. cooperation in dealing with the Covid pandemic during the last two years, Secretary Blinken invited Pakistan to the Second Global Covid Summit to be held virtually later this month. An invitation was also extended by the Secretary of State for Pakistan’s participation in the Ministerial meeting on Global Food Security to be held in New York on 18 May 2022. The Foreign Minister and the Secretary of State agreed to remain in contact and enhance engagement on regional and global issues of mutual interest.

For more information, contact:
PPP Media Cell (Sindh)
Pakistan People’s Party (PPP)
Peoples Secretariat Shikarpur Colony,
Behind Mazar-e-Quaid-e-Azam, Karachi, Pakistan
Cell: +92-305-3370383
Email: contact@ppp-tu.com
Website: https://www.ppp.org.pk

Kids Athletics Day 

Lahore, May 07, 2022 (PPI-OT):It gives me immense pleasure to apprise that as per the announcement and compliance of the directive issued by the World Athletics (International Athletics Governing Body) to celebrate and organize a Kids Athletics Day. In this regard, Athletics Federations of over 200 countries are celebrating and organizing Kids Athletics Day today on 07 May 2022. Athletics Federation of Pakistan (AFP) has also organised a celebration ceremony of Kids Athletics Day today (7 May 2022) in Lahore, Pakistan.

It further apprised that children of the different schools have participated in this event. Muhammad Zafar, Secretary General AFP was the chief guest of the ceremony. He distributed gifts and certificates among the participating children.

He commended the children who participated in the event and expressed his happiness on the participation of many children in the event. He also conveyed a message of appreciation from Major General (retd) Muhammad Akram Sahi, President AFP / Vice President Asian Athletics Association (AAA) / Chairman South Asian Athletics Federation. SAAF) to children and guests.

The key objectives and aims of celebrating and organising Kids Athletics Day are as under:

To ensure a steady and sustainable policy of development of the sport of Athletics.

To introduce Children to Athletics at a basic level.

To expand sport of athletics for schools and all institutions who are interested in the well-being of children.

To popularise athletics in the country and world.

To raise awareness on the importance of fitness and encourage people to get more involved in sports and athletics.

The vision behind Kids’ Athletics is the belief that every child is born to move, to play, to explore. No matter where they are in the world, no matter their individual circumstances, it’s their fundamental right to have access to sport.

For more information, contact:
Athletics Federation of Pakistan (AFP)
Website: http://www.afp.com.pk/welcome.php

Call to introduce start-up culture in varsities

Karachi, May 07, 2022 (PPI-OT):Pasban Democratic Party PDP Chairman Altaf Shakoor Saturday demanded of the government to introduce start-up culture in universities so that fresh graduates could be encouraged to start their own businesses instead of waiting for government job.

In a statement, he said: “Joblessness is rising with every passing day. Every year hundreds of thousands of students graduate but majority of them could not find jobs.” He said if we introduce start-up culture in our varsities and higher education centers we can successfully induct our fresh graduates in market. He said with opening their own start-ups these youth could earn a decent living and instead of becoming a burden on their families could happily support them besides playing their due in the nation building process.

He said a startup culture is a workplace environment that values creative problem solving, open communication and a flat hierarchy. In a corporate culture, core values are typically informed by the identity of the company, including its mission statement, products and customer service. In startup cultures, these core values tend to reflect the personalities and ethos of the people who worked for the business in the early days. Because new businesses must adapt quickly to internal and external market pressures in order to survive, a startup culture also promotes business agility and adaptability as being key virtues.

Altaf Shakoor said that start-ups are important drivers of job creation in any economy. He said there are many examples of the countries that attained huge progress and prosperity after training their young generation to open their own start-ups. He said that there could be no two options that job creation should be at the top of the development agenda, for policy makers as well as for social partners and civil society. This is because labour is more than a factor of production; it is an essential element of any development process, of well-being and social cohesion.

He said labour is the main asset of people; the type of work people hold is one of the most powerful determinants of well-being, as, over their lifetime, most people spend a substantial part of their time at work. Moreover, it is an essential factor of production for firms of all types and sizes. Even in high-tech manufacturing firms, workers bring new skills and competencies to enhance the organization of production or to improve the quality and variety of products.

Altaf Shakoor said that start-ups education and training is an integral part of colleges and universities in the developed countries. He said in these countries in many colleges, education is more likely to lead graduates to launch successful startups. Students who attend these schools could be immersed in a pre-startup culture that rewards non-traditional thinking. They could be developing a startup mindset or connecting to an entrepreneurial network of people.

He said that the governments at federal and provincial level should give liberal grants and incentives for introducing start-up culture in colleges and universities. He said the Higher Education Commission (HEC) should make rules to make mandatory for every student to start his own micro start-up before applying for a degree after graduating. He said now is the time to teach our younger generation to focus on their own businesses instead of running after scarce government jobs.

For more information, contact:
Press Secretary,
Pasban Democratic Party (PDP)
Pasban Central Secretariat
Office # 9, Five Star Center,
Block 11, University Road, Opp. Ibne Sina Hospital,
Gulshan-e-Iqbal, Karachi
Tel: +92-21-34024480-81
Cell: +92-322-2212434
Email: pasban.ppick@gmail.com
Website: www.pasban.org

Fulbright Scholarship 2023 

Karachi, May 07, 2022 (PPI-OT):DSU’s IERC (International Education Resource Center) would like to remind all final semester DSU students as well as DSU Alumni that the deadline to apply for the US Fulbright Scholarship for fully funded postgraduate studies in USA is 11th May 2022.

For more information, contact:
Manager Marketing,
DHA Suffa University (DSU)
DG-78, Off Khayaban-e-Tufail, Ph-VII (Ext.),
DHA, Karachi-75500, Pakistan
Tel: +92-21-35244871
Email: sabah.baloch@dsu.edu.pk
Website: www.dsu.edu.pk