A Pakistani cabinet minister says Islamabad will continue to import liquefied natural gas (LNG) from Qatar under a 15-year agreement, despite the severing of diplomatic ties with Qatar by Saudi Arabia and some other countries.
Shahid Khaqan Abb
A Pakistani cabinet minister says Islamabad will continue to import liquefied natural gas (LNG) from Qatar under a 15-year agreement, despite the severing of diplomatic ties with Qatar by Saudi Arabia and some other countries.
Shahid Khaqan Abbasi, the federal minister for Petroleum and Natural Resources, said Qatar and Pakistan last year signed a $1 billion agreement, under which Qatar's Liquefied Gas Company Limited will sell LNG from 2016 to year 2031 to state-run Pakistan State Oil.
He said since no sanctions have been imposed on Qatar by the United Nations, Pakistan and Qatar were bound to abide by the agreement.
Qatar has released an initial report into the alleged hack of its state-run news agency, an incident which helped spark a diplomatic crisis between the energy-rich country and Arab nations.
The Qatari Interior Ministry said late Wednesday that the website of the Qatar News Agency was initially hacked in April with "high techniques and innovative methods."
It said hackers installed a file and then published a fake news item attributed to Qatar's emir, Sheikh Tamim bin Hamad Al Thani, just after midnight May 24.
The ministry did not say who it suspected carried out the attack. It also thanked the FBI and the British National Commission for Combating Crime for assisting it in its investigation.
The alleged fake news item, which had Sheikh Tamim making controversial comments on Iran and Israel, immediately was picked up by Saudi and Emirati media, laying the groundwork for the crisis that began Monday (05.06.2017.)
Kuwait's emir has traveled to Qatar and met that country's leader as part of his efforts to mediate an end to a crisis that's seen Arab nations cut ties to the energy-rich country and attempt to isolate it.
Kuwait's Sheikh Sabah Al Ahmad Al Sabah was met planeside by Qatar's emir, Sheikh Tamim bin Hamad Al Thani, when he arrived on Wednesday night.
The two held talks, though details of their discussions were not released. Sheikh Sabah earlier Wednesday traveled to Dubai where he met with Abu Dhabi's Crown Prince Sheikh Mohammed bin Zayed Al Nahyan and Dubai's ruler Sheikh Mohammed bin Rashid Al Maktoum, who also serves as prime minister and vice president of the UAE.
Sheikh Sabah also has traveled to Saudi Arabia in his efforts.
It said hackers installed a file and then published a fake news item attributed to Qatar's emir, Sheikh Tamim bin Hamad Al Thani, just after midnight May 24.
The ministry did not say who it suspected carried out the attack. It also thanked the FBI and the British National Commission for Combating Crime for assisting it in its investigation.
The alleged fake news item, which had Sheikh Tamim making controversial comments on Iran and Israel, immediately was picked up by Saudi and Emirati media, laying the groundwork for the crisis that began Monday (05.06.2017.)
Kuwait's emir has traveled to Qatar and met that country's leader as part of his efforts to mediate an end to a crisis that's seen Arab nations cut ties to the energy-rich country and attempt to isolate it.
Kuwait's Sheikh Sabah Al Ahmad Al Sabah was met planeside by Qatar's emir, Sheikh Tamim bin Hamad Al Thani, when he arrived on Wednesday night.
The two held talks, though details of their discussions were not released. Sheikh Sabah earlier Wednesday traveled to Dubai where he met with Abu Dhabi's Crown Prince Sheikh Mohammed bin Zayed Al Nahyan and Dubai's ruler Sheikh Mohammed bin Rashid Al Maktoum, who also serves as prime minister and vice president of the UAE.
Sheikh Sabah also has traveled to Saudi Arabia in his efforts.
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Government has emphasized the need for stakeholders to come up with well coordinated approach to advancing the energy sector delivery. Minister of Mining, Monica Chang’anamuno made the remarks on Tuesday during the main Delivery Lab on Integrated Resource Plan (IRP) and Power Sector Coordination held in Lilongwe. She said the energy sector is central to […] The post Govt emphasizes the need for well coordinated approaches to advancing energy sector delivery appeared first on Malawi Nyasa Times - News from Malawi about Malawi.
The developing world needs trillions of dollars in climate aid, but who should pay for it? Wealthy nations? Big polluters? Countries that got rich burning fossil fuels? All of the above? A fight over this question looms at crucial negotiations next month as China and other major emerging economies come under pressure to chip in for climate action in poorer countries. It is hoped a new deal can be struck at the UN COP29 climate conference to greatly lift financial assistance to countries least able to reduce carbon emissions and adapt to global warming. The present bill of $100 billion a year is footed by a list of countries that were the richest and most industrialised at the time the UN climate convention was written up in 1992. These donors -- including the United States, the European Union, Canada, Japan and others -- agree more money is needed, and intend to keep paying «climate finance» where it is needed most. But they want others to share the burden, specifically developing countries that have become more prosperous and polluting in the decades since the original donor list was drawn up. China –- today the world's largest polluter and second-largest economy –- is the obvious target, but Singapore and oil-rich Gulf states like Saudi Arabia could also come under scrutiny. It is «entirely fair to add new contributing parties, given the ongoing evolution of economic realities and capabilities», the United States wrote in an August submission to the UN Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC). - 'Bad faith' - Diplomats from other developed countries have echoed this, arguing that the contributor list is based on outdated notions of rich and poor, and anyone who can pay should pay. Some have proposed revised criteria against which potential contributors might be judged, such as income levels, purchasing power or their emissions of planet-warming greenhouse gases. Calls to widen the donor base are deeply unpopular and have sparked heated exchanges in the months before COP29, which is being hosted in oil-and-gas-rich Azerbaijan, itself classified as a developing country. Donors have been accused of forcing the matter onto the negotiating table while refusing to engage on the central question of how much they intend to pay. For some involved «this was the literal definition of negotiating in bad faith», said Iskander Erzini Vernoit from the Imal Initiative for Climate and Development, a think tank based in Morocco. It has «taken up a lot of airtime, and a lot of oxygen», he told AFP. «For the sake of all of the poorest, most vulnerable countries of the world, it's not fair to hold the whole thing hostage.» Developing countries are pushing for the strongest possible commitment at COP29 to ensure adequate funding for clean energy projects, defensive sea walls and other climate adaptation measures. Negotiators are nowhere near landing a concrete figure, but some developing countries are calling for over $1 trillion annually. In a UNFCCC submission in August, the EU warned «the collective goal can only be reached if parties with high GHG-emissions (greenhouse gas) and economic capabilities join the effort». - Tough talk - For developing countries, who pays is non-negotiable: the 2015 Paris climate agreement reaffirmed that developed countries disproportionately responsible for global warming to date pick up the tab. In a joint statement in July, China, India, Brazil and South Africa strongly rejected «attempts by developed countries to dilute their climate finance legal obligations under international law». Azerbaijan's chief negotiator Yalchin Rafiyev told AFP in September that the gap between the United States and China over the issue was «narrowing», with a «softening» of stances on both sides. China, like some other developing countries, actually pays climate finance, it just does so on its own terms. Between 2013 and 2022, China paid on average $4.5 billion a year to other developing countries, the World Resources Institute (WRI) wrote in a September paper. This amounted to roughly six percent of what developed countries paid over the same period, said the US-based think tank. China is not required to report this to the UNFCCC, and it is not counted toward the collective target. Analysts say any formal additions to the donor list at COP29 are very unlikely, though some countries may agree to voluntary contributions in support of the broader goal. © Agence France-Presse
Seychelles has signed an economic security partnership agreement with the United Kingdom, which will seek to address illicit finance and promote greater transparency in Seychelles. The agreement was signed on Tuesday morning at the Ministry of Finance, National Planning and Trade’s headquarters by the Secretary of State for Finance, Patrick Payet, the Minister for Finance, Naadir Hassan, the British High Commissioner to Seychelles, Jeff Glekin, and the UK Minister for Africa, Lord Collins of Highbury. Payet said that the first component of this partnership is transparency, adding; “We want to revise the beneficial ownership database and we are being assisted by the UK to put a new framework in place.” He added that the UK will also work jointly with other institutions, such as the Financial Investigations Unit (FIU), Financial Services Authority (FSA), Seychelles Revenue Commission (SRC), and others, to build capacity, so they are better able to analyse this beneficial ownership information. The second component in the assistance that the UK is giving is for the Anti-Corruption Commission Seychelles (ACCS) and the Seychelles Police, specifically in regard to corruption cases. “They will give their technical expertise for capacity building in these institutions, to ensure that we get more cases that are taken to court,” added Payet. He added that the third component is in regard to virtual assets, where the Virtual Assets Service Providers Act was enacted on September 1, 2024, and they will be looking to operational these regulations. “Virtual assets are relatively new to many institutions, so the UK will provide its expertise to help with this,” added Payet. High Commissioner Glekin expressed his pleasure at signing this partnership, which he says will help make both countries safer economically. “This agreement is going to support the exchange of information between our people and our experts, in a way that lays the foundations for both a safer Seychelles and a safer UK, and also more prosperous Seychelles and UK,” he said.
Three Seychellois crew members of a high-speed leisure boat have been intercepted by the Seychelles Defence Forces (SDF), in collaboration with the Seychelles Police and partner agencies, suspected of transporting narcotics in Seychelles' waters. The joint operation on Monday involved the Seychelles Coast Guard and the Seychelles Air Force, when a maritime patrol aircraft identified the suspected vessel during a surveillance mission, according to a joint statement from the SDF and its partners. “Patrol Ship Topaz was dispatched to intercept the high-speed craft…Crew members were observed discarding items into the water before complying with orders to stop. The discarded items, believed to be narcotics, were recovered,” said the statement. The boat was taken back to port and the evidence was handed over to the police for further investigation. Evidence taken from the boat's crew (Seychelles Defence Forces) Photo License: CC-BY