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KARACHI: Pakistan plans to replicate Egypt’s Suez Canal free zone framework across its key ports to boost industrial activity and regional trade, the Ministry of Maritime Affairs said on Wednesday.

A statement released after talks between Minister Muhammad Junaid Anwar Chaudhry and Egypt’s Ambassador Dr. Ihab Mohamed Abdelhamid Hassan in Islamabad said Egypt has offered to share its experience in managing and regulating free zones around the Suez Canal, one of the world’s busiest maritime corridors, to help Pakistan develop similar economic zones around its deep-sea ports. 

The move aims to attract investment in port-linked industries, logistics, and shipping, expanding Pakistan’s maritime footprint along the Arabian Sea.

“We are working hard to establish stronger links with Central Asian states and East African countries, and we can further enhance maritime connectivity with Egypt,” Chaudhry said, adding that Egypt’s success in free zone management provides a model for Pakistan’s own blue economy growth.

The Suez Canal Economic Zone (SCZone) is a 460-square-kilometer industrial and logistics corridor stretching along the canal. Established in 2015, it offers foreign investors tax incentives, streamlined customs procedures, and dedicated infrastructure for manufacturing, shipbuilding, and port services. The model is designed to attract global trade and industry around one of the world’s busiest maritime routes, linking the Red Sea to the Mediterranean.

The minister also proposed establishing “Pakistan Houses” in Africa, Central Asia and Egypt to promote trade, investment, and business partnerships, saying such centers would deepen Pakistan’s commercial engagement with regional markets.

Ambassador Hassan welcomed the proposals and said Egypt would extend technical assistance in developing frameworks for maritime and industrial zones. According to the maritime ministry statement, he praised the competitiveness of Pakistani exports, including spices, pharmaceuticals, leather goods, and rice, and said greater port connectivity could help expand their market reach.

The ministry said working groups from both sides would now draft feasibility studies for port-based free zones and joint industrial ventures. 

The initiative is seen as part of Pakistan’s broader effort to diversify its trade partners and strengthen economic diplomacy through the maritime sector.

KARACHI: Pakistan’s nationwide polio immunization campaign continued successfully for a third consecutive day on Wednesday, with more than 25.4 million children under the age of five vaccinated in the first two days, according to the National Emergency Operations Center (NEOC).

The week-long campaign, launched earlier this week, aims to reach over 45 million children across all provinces and territories as part of Pakistan’s ongoing efforts to eradicate the paralytic disease. Pakistan remains one of only two countries in the world where wild poliovirus is still endemic, alongside Afghanistan.

According to the NEOC, 14.3 million children have been vaccinated in Punjab province, 5.02 million in Sindh, 3.77 million in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa, and 1.45 million in Balochistan. In Islamabad, health workers reached over 203,000 children, while 187,000 were vaccinated in Gilgit-Baltistan and 481,000 in Azad Jammu and Kashmir.

“Integrated and sustained efforts are underway to ensure that every eligible child receives the life-saving vaccine,” the NEOC said in a statement. It added that teams are going door-to-door and setting up transit vaccination points nationwide.

The NEOC urged parents to welcome vaccination teams and ensure that all children under five receive the drops, warning that polio “is a dangerous disease that can cause lifelong paralysis.” It emphasized that the campaign’s success depends on active community participation and parental cooperation.

While Pakistan has made major gains since the 1990s when annual cases exceeded 20,000, reducing the toll to eight by 2018, vaccine hesitancy, fueled by misinformation and resistance from some religious hard-liners, continues to undermine efforts.

Pakistan recorded 74 cases in 2024, a sharp rise from six in 2023 and just one in 2021. This year, it has reported 29 polio cases so far, including 18 from Khyber Pakhtunkhwa, nine from Sindh and one each from Punjab and Gilgit-Baltistan.

Polio is a highly infectious and incurable disease that can cause lifelong paralysis. The only effective protection is through repeated doses of the Oral Polio Vaccine for every child under five during each campaign, alongside timely completion of all routine immunizations.

Pakistan’s efforts to eliminate poliovirus have been hampered by parental refusals, widespread misinformation and repeated attacks on anti-polio workers by militant groups. In remote and volatile areas, vaccination teams often operate under police protection, though security personnel themselves have also been targeted and killed in attacks.

On Tuesday, a paramilitary Levies soldier deployed to protect a polio vaccination team was killed in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa province.