PTCL, Etisalat deal still intact
Staff Report

ISLAMABAD—Pakistan government and UAE company Etisalat will hold formal talks after Eid over issues related to privatization of PTCL.
The PTCL privatization deal with Etisalat is still intact, Prime Minister’s Advisor for Finance Dr. Salman Shah told newsmen.
Minister for Privatisation Abdul Hafeez Sheikh held detailed talks with the Etisalat management to settle the lingering issue, he said.
The Privatization Commission and the Etisalat will formally hold talks after Eid to finalize the deal.
The government has called for fresh talks with UAE based Etisalat to salvage $ 2.6-billion deal for the sale of 26% stake of the Pakistan Telecommunications Company Limited (PTCL). Privatization Minister Hafeez Shaikh is already in Dubai for follow-up talks and to negotiate a fresh deal. Privatization Minister reached Dubai on Sunday on the orders of Prime Minister Shaukat Aziz to try to resolve the problem. He had traveled to Dubai following Etisalat’s failure to meet an October 28 deadline for payment of the remaining 70 per cent in the deal for PTCL, which was signed in June.
“As a follow-up to the meeting, the privatization minister would meet his counterpart in UAE immediately after Eidul Fitr and try to achieve closure of the transaction,” said a government statement issued after a cabinet meeting. The Arab firm deposited 30 percent of the money some two weeks after bidding, but the remaining funds had not reached Pakistan by the first deadline of September 28 and by an extended deadline a month later.—INP