VIF Neighbourhood News Digest: 28th January, 2019

PAKISTAN
Pakistan makes poor use of its water resources: report: Dawn

January 28, 2019

A new report of the World Bank says Pakistan gets a poor economic return from its significant water resources, observing that the best use of water endowment is not made in the country. The economic costs from poor water and sanitation, floods and droughts are conservatively estimated to be four per cent of the GDP, or around $12 billion per year. These costs are dominated by the costs of poor water supply and sanitation, says the report titled “Pakistan Getting More from Water”. The economic costs of degradation of the Indus delta are estimated to be around $2 billion per year, while the costs of pollution and other environmental degradation have not been assessed. Click here to read.. [2]

AFGHANISTAN

Taliban, US, Pakistan hail progress in peace talks: Dawn

January 28, 2019

Afghan Taliban on Sunday acknowledged that progress had been made in talks held last week in Qatar but denied reaching any agreement with their American interlocutors on a ceasefire and talks with the Afghan government. In a brief statement, Taliban spokesman Zabihullah Mujahid said the meeting between their political office in Doha and special US representative Zalmay Khalilzad held for six consecutive days had finally come to an end. Click here to read.. [3]

NEPAL

Venezuela quietly lobbied Nepal's ruling party to release a strong statement condemning the US and its allies, sources say: Kathmandu Post

January 28, 2019

A statement by a top leader of the ruling Nepal Communist Party on Venezuela has become an albatross around the government's neck, as Foreign Ministry officials scrambled on Sunday to form an official position on the unfolding political crisis in the Latin American nation. The statement issued by Pushpa Kamal Dahal on behalf of the ruling Nepal Communist Party (NCP) on Friday categorically denounced what it called the United States and its allies’ “intervention in the internal affairs of the Bolivarian Republic of Venezuela with the intention of increasing violence by dividing the people and challenging democracy, sovereignty and peace.” Click here to read.. [4]

SRI LANKA

Sri Lanka’s new India-funded train flagged off: The Hindu

January 27, 2019

A new passenger train, funded by the Indian government, was inaugurated between the Sri Lankan capital Colombo and the northern city of Kankesanthurai on Sunday. The Indian High Commission here said that the new Diesel Multiple Unit (DMU), a 13-coach train set, was procured under Indian concessional financing by Sri Lanka Railways. President Maithripala Sirisena, in the presence of Indian High Commissioner Taranjt Singh Sandhu, flagged off the train at the Colombo Fort railway station. Click here to read.. [5]

CHINA

New chief of securities market regulator faces daunting tasks, pressing issues to ensure stability: People's Daily

January 28, 2019

As Yi Huiman, the former chairman of Industrial and Commercial Bank of China (ICBC), assumes his new post as the chairman of the China Securities Regulatory Commission (CSRC), he faces a web of daunting tasks ahead. Click here to read.. [6]