KARACHI: American agricultural company Cargill has made its first investment in Pakistan out of a promised $200 million by acquiring 25 percent stakes in Fauji Akbar Portia Marine Terminal (FAP), Pakistani officials said this week.
The FAP facility at Karachi’s Port Bin Qasim is a fully automated grain and fertilizer terminal capable of handling four million metric tons of dry cargo per annum.
Last week, Cargill and the Pakistan army-run Fauji Foundation signed a long term strategic partnership, under which the American firm has acquired a minority equity stake in FAP, a bulk terminal, and will handle grains, cereals, rice, oilseeds and fertilizers at Karachi city’s Port Qasim.
“Cargill has acquired 25% shares of the FAP to expand the operations of the terminal to handle more cargo,” Mahmood Moulvi, an adviser to the ministry of maritime affairs, told Arab News on Tuesday.
FAP, which started operations in 2010, is a joint venture between Fauji Foundation, Akbar Group of Companies and National Bank of Pakistan (NBP). Cargill is one of the largest importers of soybean, palm oil and palm oil products into Pakistan.
In a meeting with Prime Minister Imran Khan in mid-January 2019, an executive team of Cargill had announced a $200 million investment in Pakistan over the next five years. FAP’s equity purchase is part of the promised investment, according to an official at Cargill Pakistan who declined to be named as he was not authorized to speak to the media on the matter.
“It is the first investment which the company had promised last year,” the official said. “It will augment the company’s investment strategy of expansion including increasing handling and storage capacity. More investment will be made in the future as the company is exploring options in commodity trading, feed milling, dairy and poultry processing, oilseed crushing.”
Cargill, headquartered in Minneapolis, United States, has a presence in over 70 countries. Its global expertise, other than in commodity trade, lies in areas including farming, feed milling, meat processing, oilseed crushing. Cargill owns and operates, either wholly or partly, more than 30 ports around the world, of which four are in Asia.
“To conclude this transaction at this point in time is a clear signal and validation of the Pakistan opportunity seen by the world’s leading player in agriculture commodities,” Waqar Malik, chairman of Fauji Foundation said in a statement, adding ”With its global port experience, Cargill will help drive greater operational efficiencies for the port to reach its potential of handling agri-cargo safely and efficiently.”
US agri firm Cargill acquires 25% stake in Pakistani bulk terminal
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US agri firm Cargill acquires 25% stake in Pakistani bulk terminal
- Cargill has made its first investment in Pakistan out of a promised $200 million by acquiring minority stake in Fauji Akbar Portia Marine Terminal
- FAP facility at Karachi’s Port Bin Qasim is a fully automated grain and fertilizer terminal capable of handling four million metric tons of dry cargo a year
Pakistan’s interior minister accuses Imran Khan’s party of politicizing health issues
- Interior Minister Mohsin Naqvi rejects reports of Imran Khan losing 85 percent vision in his affected eye
- Health concerns for Khan’s eye ailment have triggered protests and road closures in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa
ISLAMABAD: Pakistan Interior Minister Mohsin Naqvi on Tuesday accused former prime minister Imran Khan’s party of politicizing his health issues for mileage, reiterating that the government had granted him adequate medical treatment in prison.
Naqvi’s response came hours after Khan’s Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) party rejected a government-issued medical report on his eye condition, demanding authorities allow family members and his personal physician to examine him in prison.
Health concerns emerged last week after a court-appointed lawyer, Barrister Salman Safdar, visited Khan at Rawalpindi’s Adiala Jail and reported that the former premier had suffered “severe vision loss” in his right eye due to central retinal vein occlusion (CRVO), leaving him with about 15 percent sight in the affected eye.
Jail authorities said a team of doctors from multiple hospitals examined Khan on Sunday and submitted findings to a court. A two-page medical document circulated on social media stated that unaided vision in Khan’s right eye was 6/24 and 6/9 in the left, improving to 6/9 (partial) and 6/6 respectively with glasses. While Naqvi has confirmed a medical report has been released, he did not discuss its findings.
Speaking to reporters in Lahore during a press conference, the interior minister accused the PTI of creating a “propaganda” that Khan had lost 85 percent vision in his affected eye.
“It is our obligation to tell people this much that whatever cells in your [PTI] party that are doing this, beware of them,” he said. “They are enemies of the people and are trying to do their politics under the guise of some other objectives.”
Naqvi said contrary to what the PTI was doing, the government did not want to politicize Khan’s eye ailment, adding that the welfare of every prisoner was its responsibility.
“After all this thing I have come to the conclusion about some people [in PTI] that they care more about their politics than his [Khan’s] health,” he said.
Sharing details of the checkup, Naqvi said he invited PTI Chairman Gohar Ali Khan to reach Rawalpindi’s Adiala jail, where Khan is imprisoned, to witness the former premier’s medical examination on Sunday. However, the minister said Gohar refused, citing party consultations.
He said Gohar, along with the opposition leaders in the Senate and National Assembly— Allama Raja Nasir Abbas and Mehmood Khan Achakzai--and their preferred doctors were invited to the Pakistan Institute of Medical Sciences (PIMS) for a briefing on Khan’s checkup.
Naqvi said Gohar, Abbas and Achakzai, along with the doctors, expressed satisfaction over Khan’s examination. However, he alleged Khan’s sister Aleema Khanum told party members that if they accepted the government’s version, “the issue would die down.”
“You also got the medical report yesterday,” Naqvi told reporters. “And in it, all things are clear.”
Khan’s health concern has sparked protests by supporters, including demonstrations and road closures in the northwestern Khyber Pakhtunkhwa province where his party governs, and a sit-in outside parliament in Islamabad.
FORMER CAPTAINS RALLY FOR KHAN
Separately, 14 former international cricket captains appealed to the government to grant Khan immediate medical treatment for his eye ailment, calling for “humane and dignified detention conditions” for the former Pakistan captain.
The statement was issued on behalf of former captains Michael Atherton, Allan Border, Michael Brearley, Greg Chappell, Ian Chappell, Belinda Clark, Sunil Gavaskar, David Gower, Kim Hughes, Nasser Hussain, Clive Lloyd, Kapil Dev, Steve Waugh and John Wright.
“As fellow cricketers who understand the values of fair play, honor, and respect that transcend the boundary rope, we believe that a person of Imran Khan’s stature deserves to be treated with the dignity and basic human consideration befitting a former national leader and a global sporting icon,” the statement read.
The statement also called for “fair and transparent access” to legal processes for Khan without undue delay or hindrances.
Khan, a former cricket star who served as prime minister from 2018 to 2022 before being removed in a parliamentary vote of no confidence, has been in jail since August 2023 in multiple cases he says are politically motivated. The government denies the allegations.
Khan’s family members are expected to hold a press conference in the evening today outside Adiala jail on his health condition.
