The Punjab government has declared a local holiday in Lahore on August 4 and has issued an official notification for the closure of some government offices.

The announcement said that the district offices of Lahore and other government departments working in the jurisdiction of Deputy Commissioner will be closed on the declared day.

However, the vacation would not be applicable on Punjab Civil Secretariat and other provincial government offices, which will be functional as usual.

The decision only applies to the district level offices in Lahore and provincial institutions would continue to function normally.

Pakistani car maker MG JW Automobile inked a memorandum of understanding (MoU) with Bangladeshi conglomerate RANCON Group this week to export Pakistani cars to Bangladesh as both nations look to boost business-to-business (B2B) connections.

RANCON is a large corporate organization in Bangladesh and they are working in several sectors like vehicles, real estate and electronics. Under the deal, MG JW Automobile will sell 100 vehicles to Bangladesh during the current year while total shipments are expected to exceed 5,800 vehicles during the next four years, the Pakistan High Commission in Bangladesh announced on Friday.

“The deal is expected to benefit Bangladesh by increasing the availability of vehicles in the Bangladesh market, healthy competition and the consumers will get more choices at competitive prices,” the High Commission stated.

“The agreement will also lead to closer economic cooperation between Pakistan and Bangladesh and promote more business-to-business cooperation,” said the high commission.

Haroon Akhtar Khan, Special Assistant to the Prime Minister on Industries and Production, praised the deal. He said he was confident such collaborations will improve trade and economic relations between the two countries and provide avenues for cooperation between the corporate sectors of the two countries.

Pakistan’s stock market started the new trading week on a positive note as the benchmark KSE-100 Index jumped over 2,700 points in early trade on Monday after US President Donald Trump announced that he had begun talks with Iran.

The bull run took the KSE-100 Index to 178,985 points, signifying restored investor confidence and broad-based buying in the market.

The rally came after the index finished at 176,094 points at the end of the previous trading session.

Market watchers said the high gains were fueled by a better mood among global investors after the announcement of US-Iran talks helped to quell fears over regional tensions and increase optimism in financial markets.