In our 140 years of experience, we have learnt that businesses and the societies in which they operate are in a symbiotic relationship. If society flourishes, business is good. If a business does well, it brings wealth and stability to a society.

From this organic interdependence comes our conception of corporate Social Responsibility (CSR).

We try to Create Shared Value at every step of our value chain, to ensure that our actions benefit not only the company, but also society at large. Both are, after all, interdependent. This consideration affects all our corporate initiatives.

We offer generous financial support to hospitals and organisations that are dedicated to providing services to the poor.

Only recently, we donated a mobile dispensary to APWA for its medical outreach programme in a remote community near Hub, Sindh.

We have always responded generously with assistance to victims of natural disasters, such as floods, earthquakes or drought.

When the October 2005 earthquake hit Azad Kashmir and the NWFP, we lost no time in reaching out to affectees with donations of food products worth millions of rupees.

Potable water is a basic human necessity, yet it is denied to millions of Pakistanis. We have helped alleviate rural suffering by undertaking tube-well and hand pump installation schemes in selected areas.

Our first tube-well was completed in 2002 in a village of 3000 inhabitants in Tehsil Dunyapur, Khanewal. A second one was commissioned in 2005 near Chishtian.

Since then 300 hand pumps have been installed in the arid deserts of Thar and Cholistan.

Moreover, the residents of villages which host our milk reception centres know that they can always make use of our water pumps.

Our Milk Collection and Agricultural Services Department provides free advisory and support service to dairy farmers.

We give training in animal husbandry practices, vaccinate and treat their milch animals, help farmers buy feed supplements and fodder seeds, and assist in breed improvement.

This translates into increased milk production, better income, and a better life for farmers.

To help improve education in rural areas, we undertook the rehabilitation of several primary and middle schools, focussing especially on schools for girls.

In 2004, in partnership with an NGO, we adopted a school in Pindi Dhallon, Sheikhupura, and achieved such an improvement of educational facilities, including teaching aids and teacher training, that school attendance doubled.

Three schools were rehabilitated in 2004-05, and we also donated over 100 computers to schools in poor rural and urban communities.

In the 21st century, no country can hope to progress without a strong commitment to scientific training and research.

Demonstrating our investment in Pakistan's long-term future, we have committed to help set up a School of Science and Engineering at the world-renowned Lahore University of Management Sciences (LUMS).