LAHORE (PR) – Rafael Boehncke, Managing Partner of Boehncke+Partner from Germany , Friday visited Promark to review progress of ongoing projects and to discuss additional areas of mutual interest. He valued business partnership of both organizations and hoped the bilateral relation would further develop in future. Both organizations have been working together in providing business information to their clients. Promark Directors Col (R) Nawab Ali and Shehzad Ahmed attended the meeting. The business relationship has resulted in matchmaking of various business organizations between two countries. The Nation, Pakistan November 22, 2008

BY OUR STAFF REPORTER LAHORE – The winners of national painting contest will receive prizes at the International Conference on Human Rights for Women and Children to be held at Alhamra Cultural Complex on November 17. This was revealed by Shujaud Din Bhatti from Promark that has been assigned the responsibility to organize the event on behalf of Kessa Dimitra, a Greek NGO. The nationwide painting contest was held for the school students aged 12-15 years. The theme of painting contest was the ‘Rights of Children’. More than 1,000 paintings were received from about one hundred schools. Tahreem Naeem from Pakistan Foundation School, Lahore was adjudged the national winner while Sadaf Hafeez from Divisional Public School and Fatima Shehzad from Convent of Jesus and Mary, Lahore were declared second and third respectively. The Jury comprising renowned cartoonist Javed Iqbal, Executive Director CCHD Ms Farah Perves Saleh, and Ms Samana Bokhari selected the national winners. An energetic team of volunteers from the College of Home Economics ably assisted them in short listing and display of paintings. The paintings would be displayed during the two days NGO fair. The two days events are co-funded by the European Commission. The events include stalls by network NGOs where their products would be displayed and folk dance by Greek and Pakistani dance groups, which would be organized on November 18. The events are a part of the project “NGO net for women and children rights” that is being implemented in Pakistan by Kessa Dimitra and its partners since March 2004 with funding from the European Commission. The Nation, Pakistan November 14, 2005

By Our Correspondent KESSA DIMITRA, Community Support Concern, Khwendo Kor, Shuhada Organization and Sindh Development Society are organizing an international conference on rights of women and children in Lahore on 17th at Alhamra Cultural Center. This was stated by Shehzad Ahmed, director of PROMARK in a press statement. The aim of the conference is to present and examine the current situation of women and children rights in Pakistan; explore initiatives and practical solutions to the issues at hand; and to promote cooperation between participating NGOs and international organizations. Academics, politicians and human rights activists from Pakistan as well as representatives of organizations and other agencies from Finland, England, USA, Italy and Greece will address the conference. An award ceremony will honour Mr. Abdul Sattar Edhi, human rights activist; Mr. Irshad Haqqani, journalist, Ms. Zubaida Jalal, and Imran Khan for their contribution to the protection of the human rights of women and children in Pakistan. A NGO fair, featuring organizations active in protecting of women and children’s rights, will also be held in Gardens of the Cultural Centre on 17th and 18th. The objective of the fair, which will consist of 40 stalls, is to offer the participating organizations an opportunity to present their work to the public and to increase awareness regarding human rights issues by distributing pertinent material. The News, Pakistan November 8, 2005 (Page 2)

BY OUR STAFF REPORTER LAHORE – A two-day International Conference and NGO fair on the human rights of women and children will be held in Lahore on November 17-18 next. Promark has been assigned the responsibility of organizing the event on behalf of a Greek NGO DIMITRA and its Pakistani partner NGOs. This was stated by Col (R) Nawab Ali, an office bearer of Promark. The aim of the Conference is to create a platform for the NGOs through which they can create partnerships and coordinate their efforts. DIMITRA President Nikolaos Pitsoulis said: “The main objectives of the conference are to initiate a dialogue between local and international NGOs, and local authorities and the government and to present ‘success stories’ from the field of human rights, both from Pakistan and other countries.” Speakers of international repute have been invited in the conference. The Nation, Pakistan October 4, 2005 (Page 3)

BY OUR STAFF REPORTER LAHORE-PARADISE, an NGO, organized a one- day training workshop on “Effective Business Communication” as a Part of its monthly “Leadership Training Program for the Youth.” PROMARK and Rotary Club of Lahore Garrison sponsored the workshop. Shehzad Ahmed and Nawab Ali conducted the training session as resource persons and provided training to the participants on grammar and sentence structure, business letter formats, writing effective letters and memos and, tips on report writing with examples from actual business correspondence. At the end of the Workshop the participants shared their appreciation for the training program and mentioned that such programs help them in performing better in their professional careers. The Leadership Training Program was started in November last year and this was the third workshop under this program. The Nation, Pakistan January 2004

LAHORE: PROMARK organized a one-day training workshop on “Time Management” as a part of its monthly program of “Leadership Training Program for the Youth.” About twenty young professionals participated in the workshop, which was sponsored by an NGO Paradise and Rotary Club of Lahore Garrison. Col (retd) Nawab Ali and Shehzad Ahmed acted as the resource persons and provided training to the participants in understanding importance of time and its management, effective time planning, practical goal setting, identifying time wasters and tips on controlling interruptions. The interactive workshop included discussion on case studies and experiences shared by the participants. The News, Pakistan December 24, 2003 (Page 19)

BY OUR STAFF REPORTER PARADISE, an NGO, organized a one-day training workshop on “Time Management” as a part of its monthly program of leadership training program for the Youth here on Monday. About twenty young professionals participated in the workshop, which was sponsored by Promark and Rotary Club of Lahore Garrison. Shehzad Ahmed and Col (R) Nawab Ali acted as the resource persons and provided training to the participants in understanding importance of time and its management, effective time planning, practical goal setting, identifying time wasters and tips on controlling interruptions. The interactive workshop included discussion on case studies and experiences shared by the participants. At the end of the Workshop, the participants termed the workshop very practical and asked to keep organizing such workshops for the benefit of the youth. Shehzad Ahmed announced “Effective Business Communication” as the topic for the next training workshop and pledged to hold at least one such workshop on a monthly basis to help the youth in improving their skills by learning from the professionals. The Nation, Pakistan December 23, 2003 (Page 8)

BY OUR STAFF REPORTER LAHORE- Paradise, an NGO, organised a one day training workshop on “Customer Relationship Management” for the youth here on Monday. About fifteen young professionals participated in the workshop, which was sponsored by Promark and Rotary Club of Lahore Garrison. Shehzad Ahmed and Syed Hussnain Kazmi acted as the resource persons and provided training to the participants in understanding customer service, importance of innovative thinking, customers perception and expectations, tips for customers retention and customers complaint handling. The finer details were taught with the help of case studies. At the end of the Workshop, the participants termed the workshop very practical and asked to keep organizing such workshops for the benefit of the youth. Shehzad Ahmed announced plans to hold at least one such workshop on a monthly basis to help the youth in improving their skills by learning from the professionals. The Nation, Pakistan December 02, 2003

KARACHI, Sept 22: Speakers at a seminar, on Monday, called for awareness among the masses especially stake-holders about environment issues along with increased research , professional development and coordination among various agencies to ensure environmental upgradation. The seminar with the theme of “One step ahead building environment friendly projects” was organized by the National Highways Authority (NHA) in collaboration with Japan’s International Conservation Agency (JICA) here. The adviser to chief minister on environment, Faisal Malik Gabol, noted that due importance had not been given to environmental concerns while formulating policies. He also recommended maximum participation of the masses in improving environment, as economy of a country also owes to good environment conditions. He said that such seminars and workshops would help achieve the objective and emphasized media’s active role in this direction. Mr Malik praised the NHA in developing communication network of the country and maintaining international standard of its projects. However, he said, the NHA must address the expected adverse impact on environment and point out ways to provide alternative or compensation to the stake-holders while planning its projects. He said that he would give all support to the NHA in meeting environment concerns so that roads and highways could become safer, efficient and pollution free. The beaches, affected by oil spill, were safe and within safety parameters, he said and expressed satisfaction that local experts and agencies were doing their best to mitigate the leftover effects of the oil spillage. He said that their recommendations had been supported by the international environment experts and institutions. Mr Malik said that more steps were underway for cleansing the beaches, which included dumping of oil affected sand and its possible use in road construction. “We are now waiting for test reports from the Pakistan Council of Scientific and Industrial Research (PCSIR) to go ahead,” he said. Earlier, Project Director Lyari Expressway Muhammad Yousaf Barakzai read out welcome address on behalf of the NHA chairman. In the welcome address, he stated that the authority had taken lead in addressing the environment concerns, as it had started social and environmental documentation of its all mega- projects. The NHA was conducting a series of seminars to spread environmental awareness, which reflected its commitment for delivering more environmental friendly projects in future and would enhance its institutional capacities, he added. In his presentation, the deputy director environment of NHA, Mushtaq Khan Khakwani, said that the authority was working along with other government agencies to improve the environment. He said that the key issues related to the NHA operations were air and noise pollution, loss of bio-diversity, threatening endangered species, stream and lake sedimentation, threatening cultural heritage, resettlement of people, safety, solid waste disposal and wetlands. He said that the NHA was responsible for almost 8,845kms of National Highway and Motorways, which carried up to 75 per cent of the total road traffic in the country. Asif Khawaja dwelt upon air quality in urban areas and transport planning while focusing on air pollution as an emerging environmental concern. He recommended that the provincial governments should strengthen vehicle inspection and examining departments in consultation with the Environment Protection Agencies (EPAs) and the Association of Road Users of Pakistan (ARUP) to ensure standard condition of tuned vehicles on roads. Besides, the sale of adulterated gasoline, diesel, CNG and LPG should be contained, he added. He emphasized that weigh bridges should be set up on all highways and roads to check over-loading. The fuel substitution policy needed environmental initiatives for effective results, he observed. Mr Asif said that the introduction of government subsidized Urban Transport Scheme with large fleet using clean fuel would reduce traffic burden from roads, which would improve air quality in various cities. Rasheed M. Randhawa spoke on tree plantation policy for the national highway and motorways. He said that plantation would form an integral part of mega-projects of roads and local forest department would be requested to take over established plantation for subsequent management. Speaking on overloading and road safety awareness, Director PROMARK Nawab Ali called for effective research on crash risks and cost effective measures. He said that effective public information campaigns should also be launched in this regard. He said that road safety was a cross-sector issue, as it involved transportation, health and educational activities. He suggested to empower people of their own safety and educate and mobilize children as future community leaders.-APP Daily Dawn, Pakistan September 23, 2003 (Rajab 25, 1424) http://dawn.com/2003/09/23/local40.htm