On Wednesday, the National Assembly (NA) updated its membership regarding the fully operational status of Gwadar Port and its capacity to support cargo and major operations, as it applies to the Parliamentary Secretary for Planning, Development, and Special Initiatives, Wajiha Qamar: “The port is complete in its infrastructure to handle general cargo, containers and vessels up to 50,000 DWT.” “It has successfully processed several shipments under the Afghanistan-Pakistan Transit Trade Agreement.”
Parliamentary Secretary for Finance, Saad Waseem Sheikh said that Personal Income Tax shall not be increased this fiscal year for the salaried class. Meanwhile, Parliamentary Secretary for Commerce, Zulfiqar Ali Bhatti expressed the hope that rice exports would touch five billion dollars in this fiscal year. He pointed out that rice exports already stood at 3.8 billion dollars during the last fiscal year, much higher than 2.1 billion dollars in 2022-23. From July to October this year, rice exports have recorded a 48.81 percent increase in value and a 43.77 percent increase in quantity when compared with the corresponding period last year.
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Responding to a Calling Attention Notice, Parliamentary Secretary for the Cabinet Division, Sajid Mehdi said that the government was taking measures to control fake news on social media platforms, including setting up a Task Force by Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif. The Civil Servants (Amendment) Bill, 2024, and the Privatization Commission (Amendment) Bill, 2024, were also introduced in the House.