Putin says Russia can use 'all means' in Ukraine

Russian President Vladimir Putin looks on during a press conference in Moscow, on March 4, 2014. PHOTO: AFP

President Vladimir Putin on Tuesday defended Russia’s right to use “all means” to protect its citizens in Ukraine but denied he had already deployed troops there, as the West pressed Moscow in a Cold War-style standoff over the ex-Soviet state.

His comments, which calmed frightened markets somewhat, came as US Secretary of State John Kerry arrived in Kiev for talks with interim leaders.

“We are going to help you. We are helping you. President Obama is planning for more assistance,” Kerry told the crowds as he visited a shrine to commemorate those killed in Kiev’s uprising last month.

Washington said it will provide $1 billion in loan guarantees to Ukraine, while the European Commission said it would on Wednesday also offer an aid package reportedly worth more than one billion euros.

The United States and the European Union also warned Russia would likely face sanctions as early as this week if Moscow did not de-escalate the situation.

There was no immediate sign of an end to tensions in Ukraine’s Crimean peninsula, however.

Pro-Moscow forces remained in de-facto control of the strategic Black Sea territory that has housed the Russian Black Sea Fleet since the 18th century.

The scale of the tensions was underlined on Tuesday when a Ukrainian officer said Russian forces surrounding an air base in Belbek near the Black Sea Fleet base in Sevastopol fired warning shots at Ukrainian servicemen trying to approach.

Putin, speaking to journalists in a news conference televised live, denied Russian forces were involved in the armed operations in Crimea that started late last week.

“No, they did not participate,” he said. “There are lots of uniforms that look similar.”

However he stressed that “we reserve the right to use all means to protect” Russia and Ukrainian citizens, though an invasion would be “an extreme measure”.

He said there was currently “no need” to send troops into Ukraine.

At the same time, he dismissed the authority of Kiev’s new government, saying Ukraine’s toppled president Viktor Yanukovych remained the “legitimate” leader. Yanukovych, he said, had requested Russian military action in Ukraine.

Putin’s comments about Russian use of force were interpreted by markets as a possible easing of the worst crisis in Europe since the fall of the Berlin Wall in 1989.

European markets bounced back from deep losses suffered on Monday, when fears of war breaking out on Europe’s eastern edge had taken hold, axing more than 10 percent of the value of shares trading in Moscow and sending the Ruble to historic lows.

Moscow’s two main exchanges were up more than five percent on Tuesday while the ruble regained some of its value a day after the central bank had to spend billions of dollars on keeping the struggling currency from suffering even steeper losses.

London’s benchmark FTSE 100 index rallied 1.4 percent in mid-session deals. Frankfurt’s DAX 30 jumped 2.0 percent and in Paris the CAC 40 gained 2.3 percent.

The dollar and euro also clawed back some of Monday’s losses against haven currency the yen as a degree of confidence returned to the market. Gold and oil prices fell from multi-month highs.

Russia’s state-controlled energy giant Gazprom said it would end a discount it gives Ukraine on gas prices from April but proposed a loan of up to $3 billion to Kiev to cover its debt.

The West indicated Tuesday it would not let up its pressure on Russia.

A US official travelling with Kerry to Kiev said Russia was “likely” to face US moves to introduce sanctions as early as this week.

EU foreign ministers on Monday, condemning Russia’s actions, had warned that ties with Moscow were at risk unless it reversed course and took steps to de-escalate the crisis by the emergency summit of EU leaders on Thursday.

Ukraine Prime Minister Arseniy Yatsenyuk will travel to Brussles to meet the EU leaders before the summit.

EU foreign policy chief Catherine Ashton is due to meet Lavrov in Madrid on Tuesday and then go on to Kiev on Wednesday.

Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov called threats of sanctions were “ill-advised”.

“Our position is honest and… will not change,” Lavrov told reporters during an official visit to Tunisia.

“We have always opposed the policy of unilateral sanctions. I hope our partners understand that such actions are counter-productive.”

Beyond sanctions, though, the United States and its allies appear to have limited options in dealing with Putin’s actions on Ukraine, which many saw as a bid to rebuild vestiges of the Soviet empire.

German Foreign Minister Frank-Walter Steinmeier warned there was no solution in sight after a “difficult” discussion in Geneva on Tuesday with Lavrov.

“I can’t run up a flag to say that we are on the way to finding a solution and that Ukraine and Russia are about to start talking,” he added.

Foreign Secretary William Hague, meanwhile, insisted that Britain’s options in dealing with Russia over the Ukrainian crisis remained open after an official document suggesting London was opposed to trade sanctions was photographed in a senior official’s hand and made public.

Hague did not deny the content of the briefing paper. But he insisted that Britain’s options remained “very much open”.

Turkish telecom giant expresses interest in Pakistan spectrum auction

Rahman highlighted the upcoming auction for 3G and 4G, LTE spectrum provided enormous opportunity for any investor given that 98% of Pakistani population is yet to be connected with broadband services. CREATIVE COMMONS

BARCELONA: Turkcell, one of Turkey’s largest cellular mobile operator and recently awarded the “dream partner” global mobile award, expressed interest in the upcoming spectrum auction in Pakistan.

According to a press release issued by the government on Monday, State Minister of Information Technology Anusha Rahman met the top brass of Turkcell on the sidelines of the Mobile World Congress in Barcelona where the finer points of the upcoming spectrum auction were detailed.

Rahman highlighted the upcoming auction for 3G and 4G, LTE spectrum provided enormous opportunity for any investor given that 98% of Pakistani population is yet to be connected with broadband services.

As an incentive, MoIT said spectrum in the 850MHz band has been made available for new entrants to provide them level playing field in addition to the 1800MHz band for speeding up the proliferation of 4G services in Pakistan.

Turkcell expressed keen interest in the auction and showed intent in sending a high-level delegation of Turkcell to visit Pakistan to study the market closely.

The Turkcell CEO Sureyya Ciliv shared initiatives which telecom giant had undertaken to disseminate e-services in Turkey, particularly in areas of e-health and e-education.

Despite its stock being downgraded from “buy” to hold on the New York Stock Exchange on Wednesday, its Chairman Ahmet Akça said they consider Pakistan a flourishing market offering a potential for investment in telecom sector.

The meeting included Turkcell’s chairman, CEO, and business chief officer Dr Tayfun Cataltepe. The Pakistani delegation included the IT minister, IT secretary, PTA chairman, telecom member and FAB executive director.

Increase trade with Brazil.

FCCI believes that the trade delegation will prove a catalyst for bilateral trade relations, further economic opportunities, and produce people-to-people contact. PHOTO: FILE

FAISALABAD: 

A high-profile delegation of Faisalabad businessmen will leave for Brazil to try and capture the lucrative business opportunities available for Pakistan, Faisalabad Chambers of Commerce and Industry (FCCI) President Engineer Suhail Bin Rashid said on Monday.

Rashid said that sending such delegations in order to improve bilateral trade should be made a regular practice, adding that this year FCCI is focusing on regional and non-traditional trade.

“The prime objective of the trade delegation is to strengthen economic ties and promoting bilateral trade to optimum level of both countries,” said Rashid. “Brazil has great potential for enhancing bilateral trade with Pakistan being the world’s sixth largest economy, eighth biggest consumer market, one of the fastest growing major economies, moderately free markets and an inward-oriented economy,” he added.

Rashid said that there is potential for the export of Pakistani fabrics, bed sheets, yarn, sports socks, garments, farm implements, and business related computer services, while raw cotton, soya bean, soya bean oil, paper, lumber, iron scrap, sugar and ethanol machinery can be imported from Brazil. Pakistan’s bilateral trade with Brazil was only $278.18 million in 2012, which is far below compared to the economy size and trade volume of both the countries with the rest of the world, Rashid said.

Chairman of the International Affairs and Trade Delegations FCCI Jamil Ahmad said that Brazil has a GDP size of about $2.5 trillion (2012). Brazil, with a population of 192 million inhabitants and a 92% literacy rate, is the most populous and largest country in Latin America with an area of 8.5 million square kilometres (the 5th largest in the world), Ahmad said. Brazil’s total trade volume is $466 billion and its per capita income is about $12,000.

“Brazil and Pakistan have long entertained warm and friendly ties. So far nine bilateral agreements have been signed and both are coalition partners in numerous multilateral negotiations, including the liberalisation of international trade,” he added.

“I am very confident that the delegation to Brazil will respond overwhelmingly to bilateral trade promotion and strengthening of economic ties between both countries to an optimum level,” Ahmad said.

Auto sector’s argument: Govt is uncompetitive, not the industry

Industrialists associated with the automobile sector fear that the industry will be paralysed in the absence of infrastructure and because of disparity between implementation of standards in different sectors of the two countries. PHOTO: FILE

LAHORE: The resistance to the grant of most-favoured nation (MFN) or more digestible non-discriminatory market access (NDMA) status to India carries logic as the industry says it is not uncompetitive but it is the government which lacks a proper regulatory environment that could benefit local manufacturers.

Industrialists associated with the automobile sector fear that the industry will be paralysed in the absence of infrastructure and because of disparity between implementation of standards in different sectors of the two countries. This makes it impossible for the industry, which is not incompetent, to overcome the challenges of goods export to India, they say.

“The auto industry is ready for trade but a lot of homework on part of the government has yet to be done,” said Nabeel Hashmi, former chairman of Pakistan Association of Automotive Parts and Accessories Manufacturers (Paapam), told The Express Tribune.

“This is not a case where we cannot compete with our Indian counterparts, we are competing by manufacturing quality components for Suzuki and other car manufacturers,” he said.

According to Hashmi, India has agreed to accept emission and quality certificates issued by Pakistan Standards and Quality Control Authority (PSQCA) for vehicle export, but Delhi is following Bharat-IV emission standards, equivalent to Euro-IV, that entails that the vehicles should be designed especially for the Indian market.

Unfortunately, he said, Pakistan had not a single testing facility that could certify Euro emission standards while India had world-class facilities.

Hashmi pointed out that India had executed a well-planned and prudent policy, setting growth direction for the auto sector and addressing most of its concerns. A long-term consistent auto policy has been in place since 1995. The industrial policy in general and auto policy in particular are not tied to policies of sitting governments and continue without any major change decade after decade.

Indian automotive industry data for April-March 2011-12 shows production growth of 13.83% over previous year. In the year, the industry produced 20.36 million vehicles, of which two wheelers, passenger vehicles, three wheelers and commercial vehicles had a share of 76%, 15%, 4% and 4% respectively.

In contrast, he said, the Auto Industry Development Policy in Pakistan, formulated in 2007 to facilitate the industry, had been tinkered with so many times that it had lost its originality. It also led to 24% decline in sales of the industry during the period covered by the policy.

“All meetings of auto industry representatives with the Engineering Development Board and its parent – Ministry of Industries – on the new auto policy for 2012-17 have failed to reach consensus,” said Ishtiaq Siddiqi, Chief Executive Officer of AM Engineering.

The government continued to stick to its anti-industry proposal of a massive reduction in tariffs and was supporting trading over manufacturing despite the industries minister’s clear directives, he added.

Legacy: BRR Guardian Modaraba a ‘long-term player’

Unlike conventional financial institutions, Shariah-compliant institutions like Modarabas get a fee equal to 10% of the profit earned only if profit is earned. PHOTO: FILE

KARACHI: 

It is hard to miss the recently-built BRR Tower on the edge of Pakistan’s Wall Street in the business hub of Karachi.

The 19-storey structure with arches typically associated with Muslim architecture stands at the confluence of II Chundrigar Road, Dr Ziauddin Road and MR Kayani Road in the city’s financial district.

The building is constructed and rented by BRR Investments, an Islamic financial institution that manages the BRR Guardian Modaraba, Pakistan’s oldest Modaraba.

“We moved into this building after its completion in December last year,” BRR Guardian Modaraba CEO Ayaz Dawood told The Express Tribune in a recent interview. “I expect it to be rented by July, or maybe December. There has already been a respectable increase in its valuation, although the building has yet to be occupied.”

A Modaraba operates like a close-end mutual fund that can invest in a range of Shariah-compliant avenues, like leasing of assets, properties, and equity and debt securities.

However, unlike a mutual fund where the asset management company gets a percentage of total assets under management regardless of profit or loss, a Modaraba management company gets a fee equal to 10% of the profit earned. In other words, the management company does not make any profit if the Modaraba fails to post a profit in a given year.

Out of the 24 Modarabas operating in Pakistan by the end of last fiscal year, BRR Guardian Modaraba is the only one that has gone into real assets i.e. properties. By virtue of their memoranda, Modarabas cannot trade – which means buy and sell – in property. However, they are allowed to construct/buy a property for renting purposes only.

According to the company’s financial accounts for 2012-13, the value of BRR Tower has been ‘conservatively assessed’ at Rs960.3 million.

“We are a long-term player. We haven’t re-valued properties. In our books, investment properties are valued at Rs1.2 billion. But their fair value as on June 30 as per the independent valuation report is Rs1.7 billion,” Dawood said.

BRR Tower has 120,000 square feet of office space along with 80,000 square feet of parking space spread over six floors. According to Dawood, no other building in Pakistan offers such a large parking space.

If the per-square foot rent is around Rs100, he said the Modaraba will make Rs144 million a year. Given that its paid-up capital consists of a little over 78 million certificates with a face value of Rs10 each, Dawood said the building will generate an income of Rs2 per certificate per annum.

“Our Modaraba is still making money even though there is zero income from this building,” he said, adding that shareholders of the Modaraba will continue receiving a dividend generated through the rental stream of the tower.

“There is at least 7.5% increase in the rent every year. So it’s a hedge against inflation,” he noted.

BRR Guardian Modaraba announced its half yearly results last week, according to which its net profit for the period remained Rs15.1 million, down 33.1% from the corresponding six-month period in the preceding fiscal year.

Italian football retains co-ownership

The widely-used practice will be continued in the peninsula, despite expectation that transfer laws would be brought in line with the rest of Europe

The Lega Calcio has agreed to retain co-ownership arrangements in Italian football, despite expectations that it might give the practice the boot.

WHAT IS CO-OWNERSHIP?

Club B buys 50% of player's rights from Club A, with player spending a season at agreed club (loan to a third club is also an option) At end of agreement, clubs reconvene to thrash out deal. If no deal is agreed, a blind auction takes place with the club showing the highest bid buying out the remaining 50% of contract A club can sell its 50% of the player's economic rights, but only when the player is registered to play with the alternate owner

Co-ownership allows more than one club to have the rights to a single player and has proved to be popular in the peninsula and also in parts of South America.

However, the difficulties in policing transfers and the delinearity with policy in the rest of Europe had put the continued use of the system in doubt.

But Sky Sport reports that the Lega Calcio decided at a meeting on Monday to retain the ability to co-own players in its transfer market statutes.

The meeting had been called in the expectation that the league committee would look for alternative solutions after agreeing with the Inland Revenue to seek an answer to complications in the rule's governance.

Co-ownership allows clubs to share a player's economic rights for a short-term period - usually 12 months - after which there is a blind auction to decide which of the parties will buy out their counterparts for the remaining 50 per cent of the player's contract.

While co-ownership has become common practice in Italy, with Adriano's spell under the control of Inter and Parma among the most famous deals, it has had its critics elsewhere and has occasionally led to confusion in administration.

In one famous episode in 2011, Bologna missed out on securing the entire rights to Emiliano Viviano's registration after director general Stefano Pedrelli mistakenly wrote down the wrong figure on his club's bid slip at the blind auction, resulting in the goalkeeper joining co-owners Inter on a full-time basis.

Barcelona rumours ridiculous, says Vidal

The Chilean insists that his only focus is shining for Juventus and Chile and is looking forward to facing Germany on Wednesday with his country

Juventus midfielder Arturo Vidal has dismissed rumours that he is set to join either Barcelona or Real Madrid.

The Chilean has been with the Italian champions since 2011 and was instrumental as Antonio Conte's men won back-to-back Scudetti in his two full seasons at the club.

Vidal has been linked with a variety of clubs, but has branded reports of an impending move to La Liga "ridiculous", insisting that his focus is on winning the league with the Bianconeri.

"Me to Real Madrid or Barcelona? It's ridiculous," he told reporters. "It's a non-story. All I want to do is win the league with Juventus and have a good World Cup."

The 26-year-old joined Juve from Bayer Leverkusen and is looking forward to reconnecting with some familiar rivals when his country play Germany on Wednesday.

"I know most of Germany's players," he said. "I have played against virtually all of them. But we are a young team with pace. We are attacking, we run a lot and we like playing good football.

"Our game is similar to Borussia Dortmund's in last season's Champions League."

Vidal has scored 11 goals in 25 Serie A games as Juve sit 11 points clear of Roma in the title race.