News
Thursday, April 22, 2010
Cabinet approves SAARC agreement on trade in services* Approves start of negotiations for MoU with Iranian Academy of Persian Language
* Allows legislation of draft ‘Credit Bureau Act, 2010’Staff Report
ISLAMABAD: The Federal Cabinet on Wednesday approved the signing of the SAARC Agreement on Trade in Services for the upcoming 16th SAARC Summit scheduled in Thimphu, Bhutan, on April 28-29.
According to a press statement issued after Wednesday’s meeting, the cabinet also ratified the decisions of the Economic Coordination Committee (ECC) meeting held on March 30.
In order to update the laws relating to intellectual property management, the cabinet granted approval to the draft amendment bill called “Intellectual Property Rights Organisation of Pakistan Bill, 2010”, which shall be tabled in parliament soon.
The draft law proposes amendments to 15 sections of the IPO Ordinance, while recommending the addition of two new ones.
MoU: The cabinet also granted approval in principle to start negotiations for a memorandum of understanding (MoU) between the country’s National Language Authority and the Academy of Persian Language and Literature in Iran. The MoU envisages joint training programmes, research, seminars and exchange of delegations.
The cabinet approved the signing of an MoU between the governments of Pakistan and Tunisia for closer cooperation between the Trade Development Authority of Pakistan and the Tunisian Trade Promotion Organisation.
The federal cabinet further approved the signing of Financial and Technical Cooperation Agreements 2007-2008 between Pakistan and Germany.
Negotiations in this regard were held in November 2008 that resulted in a financial assistance of €64 million by the German government for various development projects in the health, energy, education and communication sectors.
The cabinet also approved in principle the start of negotiations in respect of framework agreement between the governments of Pakistan and the Republic of Korea for a loan of $180 million.
The soft-loan shall be utilised for funding development projects in the health, environment, renewable energy, vocational training, water and sanitation, irrigation and infrastructure sectors.
Legislation: In order to address the issue of credit data of borrowers – to be used by financial institutions for credit assessment, scoring, and risk management – the cabinet granted approval for legislating draft “Credit Bureau Act, 2010”.
The draft bill will be prepared in consultation with the Ministry of Law and Justice and the database about borrowers will enable financial institutions to gain know-how about the financial standing of their prospective customers and enable them to make prudent decisions.
The cabinet accorded Ex-post facto approval for the proposed “State Bank of Pakistan (Amendment) Bill 2010”.
The proposed amendment in State Bank Act 1956 will update the law and conform it to best international practices.
The law will become more conducive to challenging global economics and regulatory environment, as well as modern functioning of the central bank.
Courtesy www.dailytimes.com.pk