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The World Bank’s International Center for Settlement of Investment Disputes (ICSID) last year ordered Pakistan to pay damages of $5.84 billion to Tethyan Copper – a joint venture between Chile’s Antofagasta and Canada’s Barrick Gold – for blocking Tethyan from developing the Reko Diq copper asset after it had already sunk more than $220 million into the project in Balochistan. The ICSID in July 2019 announced $6 billion award against Pakistan which included $4 billion penalty and almost $2 billion in interest as damages payable to Tethyan. Odds appear to…

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Chairman of Prime Minister’s Taskforce on Science and Technology Dr Atta ur Rehman on Tuesday remarked that the Pfizer vaccine, being celebrated worldwide, is not suitable for Pakistan. “This vaccine is not suitable for Pakistan in my opinion,” the former head of the HEC told Geo Pakistan, and warned that it was “too early to celebrate” the news regarding the Pfizer vaccine. “We should not think much about this vaccine, instead focus on other vaccines that are being developed and have seen similar results but havn’t been announced with fanfare.…

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The 10th Joint Cooperation Committee (JCC) meeting on CPEC is about to happen. The agenda is being finalised and preparations are in full swing. The Government of Pakistan intends to discuss a host of infrastructure projects during the meeting, besides the three priority special economic zones. But in the meanwhile, some interesting developments are taking place globally and regionally that will shape China’s economic agenda in the years to come and as a corollary will have significant bearing on Pak-China relations. It is therefore important to take stock of these developments…

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A World Bank (WB) study launched Tuesday suggests that a major scale-up of variant renewable energy (VRE) could help Pakistan save US$5 billion in costs over the next 20 years, mainly from reduced fuel consumption. “Pakistan should quickly implement a major scale-up of solar and wind generation,” the report advised. The study, titled Variable Renewable Energy (VRE) Integration and Planning, finds that Pakistan needs to urgently implement a major expansion of solar and wind “variable renewable energy”, to achieve a share of at least 30per cent of total capacity by…

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After a lapse of more than 11 years, the Central Working Development Party (CDWP) has finally approved a 26MW hydropower project in Skardu, which would be completed under the federal Public Sector Development Programme (PSDP). The Shagharthang Hydropower Project, which was initially approved in 2009 at an estimated cost of Rs3.356 billion, would now be completed at Rs8.616 billion. The Asian Development Bank (ADB) had initially agreed to fund two hydropower projects in GB, including Shagharthang Hydropower Project and Thak Chilas Hydropower Project, under Renewable Energy Development Sector Investment Programme.…

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