Business

Islamabad, Mar 24 (PTI) Pakistan will “seriously” consider restoring trade ties with India that remained suspended since August 2019, Foreign Minister Muhammad Ishaq Dar has said, indicating a potential shift in diplomatic stance towards the neighbouring nation.

Dar made these remarks during a press conference in London following his participation in the Nuclear Energy Summit in Brussels, Geo News reported.

He highlighted the eagerness of cash-strapped Pakistan's business community to resume trade activities with India.

Singapore, Mar 24 (PTI) Russia is a country with which India has always had a positive relationship and both countries have taken extra care to look after each other's interests, External Affairs Minister S Jaishankar said on Sunday, as he dismissed the notion that Moscow is drifting towards China.

Interacting with the Indian community in Singapore, Jaishankar said India should look at its relationship with Russia or any other country from its perspective.

BEIJING, March 21 (Xinhua) -- China's non-financial outbound direct investment (ODI) increased 10 percent year on year to 149.64 billion yuan (about 21.09 billion U.S. dollars) in the first two months of the year, official data showed Thursday.

Non-financial ODI in countries participating in the Belt and Road Initiative came in at 33.18 billion yuan during the period, an increase of 0.6 percent year on year, according to the Ministry of Commerce.

The turnover of contracted projects overseas grew 9 percent year on year to 138.06 billion yuan, the ministry said.

CHANGCHUN, March 21 (Xinhua) -- China's first independently developed hydrogen-powered urban train completed a test at a speed of 160 kph on Thursday, marking a breakthrough in the application of hydrogen energy in rail transit.

The train, developed by CRRC Changchun Railway Vehicles Co., Ltd. in Changchun, northeast China's Jilin Province, was tested on a test track belonging to the enterprise, achieving a full-system, full-scenario and multi-level performance verification.

20 March 2024; MEMO: Yemen’s Houthi group yesterday rejected a statement issued by the UN Security Council condemning the group’s operations against Israeli-linked ships in the Red Sea, Anadolu agency reported.

20 March 2024; MEMO: Half the workers at Israel’s Eilat Port are at risk of losing their jobs after the seaport took a major financial hit due to the crisis in Red Sea shipping lanes, Reuters reported officials saying today.

Eilat sits on a northern tip of the Red Sea and was one of the first ports to be affected as shipping firms rerouted vessels to avoid attacks on Israel-linked vessel by the Houthis in Yemen.

Islamabad/Washington, Mar 20 (PTI) The IMF on Wednesday said it has reached a staff-level agreement with the new government in cash-strapped Pakistan on the final review of a USD 3 billion bailout, paving the way for the release of the last USD 1.1 billion tranche from the global lender.

The agreement, however, is subject to the approval of the Executive Board of the International Monetary Fund (IMF) to be held in April.

19 March 2024; MEMO: Russian President Vladimir Putin and Saudi Crown Prince Mohammed Bin Salman yesterday expressed their willingness to continue developing friendly relations and cooperation between the two countries and coordination in OPEC+.

19 March 2024; MEMO: The British government said today that it would refer the UAE-led takeover of the Telegraph Media Group for a lengthy review, a move that will effectively kill the deal because a law banning foreign governments owning newspapers is due to come into force in coming months, Reuters has reported.

Beijing, Mar 5 (PTI) China on Tuesday increased its defence budget by 7.2 per cent to USD 232 billion as it continues with the massive modernisation of its military amid prevailing tensions over Taiwan, the South China Sea, border frictions with India and increasing rivalry with the US.