F.P. Report
ISLAMABAD: The Federal Cabinet on Tuesday approved the restructuring of Pakistan International Airlines (PIA) on the recommendation of the Privatization Division.
The cabinet, in its previous meeting approved the appointment of a financial advisor for financial and administrative restructuring of the airlines. The cabinet, in a meeting chaired by Caretaker Prime Minister Anwaar-ul-Haq Kakar was told that the financial advisor had formulated a financial restructuring plan of PIA in line with international precedents under which the airlines will be divided into two companies, Top-Co and Hold-Co.
PIA’s core operations of engineering, ground handling, cargo, flight kitchen and training will be incorporated into Top-Co while other entities such as Precision Engineering Complex, PIA Investment Limited and others subsidiaries and properties will be incorporated in Hold-Co. These measures will help attract capital investors to PIA. The cabinet also directed the cabinet sub-committee on Privatization to deal with the matters related to settlement of government-owned enterprises with PIA as soon as possible.
On the recommendation of the ministry of Privatization, cabinet also approved the privatization of First Women Bank Limited. The cabinet on the recommendation of the Ministry of National Health approved the proposals regarding de-regulation of the prices of the medicines which were not included in the national list of essential medicines.
Under these proposals, prices of medicines other than essential medicines in the national list will be exempted from the Drugs Act, 1976 and necessary amendments will be made in the Drug Pricing Policy 2018. Furthermore, the Pakistan Medical and Dental Council will ensure that doctors will not prescribe vitamins, multivitamins, minerals and over-the-counter products to the patients.
The Drug Regulatory Authority will compile a list of vitamins, multivitamins, minerals and over-the-counter products as per the prevailing international standards and will also be in touch with the provincial governments in this regard. The cabinet also approved the decisions taken in the meeting of the Economic Coordination Committee held on February 01, 2024.
Meanwhile the cabinet approved the appointment of Lt. General Tahir Hameed Shah as a member and chairman of the Pakistan Ordnance Factories Board on the recommendation of the Ministry of Defense Production. The appointment of Lt. General Tahir Hameed Shah will be effective from November 29, 2023.
On the recommendation of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, the cabinet allowed Major Abid Mansoor Khan to receive award of “Note-e-Shujaat” and “Note-e-Sharf” from the Ministry of Defense of Saudi Arabia in recognition of his services. The Federal Cabinet, on the recommendation of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, gave permission to Protocol Officer Mohammad Ashraf Khan to receive a gold medal from the Government of Austria in recognition of his services.
Likewise the cabinet, on the recommendation of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs also gave permission to Air Commodore Syed Imran Ali to receive “Defense Cooperation Award First Class” award in recognition of his services as Defense Attaché at the Pakistani Embassy in Tokyo. On the recommendation of the Ministry of Law and Justice and the proposal of the Chief Justice of Peshawar High Court, the cabinet approved the conversion of 4 out of 8 accountability courts in Peshawar into special courts. Apart from this, the proposal of Chief Justice Peshawar High Court was also approved by the cabinet regarding the appointment of judges of these courts. The remaining courts will continue to function as accountability courts. These changes will not incur any additional burden on the national exchequer.
