Pakistan and China have signed two defence pacts aiming to provide further military and security assistance to the Pakistani armed forces.
ISLAMABAD: Pakistan and China have signed two defence pacts aiming to provide further military and security assistance to the Pakistani armed forces.
The agreements, details of which were not made public, were inked on Wednesday at the end of the 4th round of defence and security talks at the Joint Staff Headquarters here, The News daily reported.
Both sides expressed satisfaction over the progress made so far and shared a commonality of perception on all important regional and international issues, the daily said quoting an official announcement.
Chairman of Joint Chiefs of Staff Committee General Ehsan Ul Haq led the Pakistani delegation, while visiting Lt. Gen. Zhang Qin Sheng, assistant to the chief of general staff of the People's Liberation Army (PLA), led the Chinese side at the talks.
Following the negotiations, Additional Secretary of Defence Production Maj. Gen. Tariq Salim Malik, and the Deputy Director General of the Foreign Office in the Ministry of National Defence, Maj. Gen. Jia Xiaoning, signed the agreements on behalf of their governments.
The Pakistan-China defence and security meeting is the highest common forum between the two armed forces and is held alternatively in China and Pakistan in order to identify areas of further cooperation and mutual assistance.
The first round was held in March 2002 in Pakistan. The next round of talks will be held in 2007 in China, the newspaper announced.
Ireland''s Independent plans to up stake in Jagran
MUMBAI, Aug 17 (Reuters) - Indian newspaper publisher Jagran Prakashan Ltd.said on Thursday Ireland's Independent News Media Plc has approached the Indian market regulator to up its stake in the Indian firm by up to 3 percent.
The application to the regulator to buy 1 to 3 percent in the Indian firm from the open market was made by Independent News Media Investments Ltd, a wholly owned unit of the Irish firm.
Independent now owns just over 20 percent in the Indian company. Foreign firms can hold up to 26 percent in an Indian newspaper. They want to take the maximum possible within the 26 percent limit, said Chief Financial Officer, R.K. Agarwal.
The price at which the shares will be purchased was not known, he said. Shares in the company that made their market debut in February, rose 3.64 percent to 310 rupees in a slightly weak Mumbai market.
Jagran Prakashan, which publishes India's largest-selling daily newspaper, last week said it plans to launch a low-priced newspaper title in September.
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