LAHORE: Consultation with business-men will remain continue as government is committed to provide all possible facilities to the business community, said Chaudhary Muhammad Sarwar, Governor of Punjab here on Wednesday.
“With active consultation of business-men government will formulate key economic policies with a view to enhance country’s exports volume”, the Governor said while addressing a grand reception of the Businessmen Panel hosted in honour of its chairman Mian Anjum Nisar.
The Businessmen Panel, on this occasion, announced the candidates for the forthcoming election of Federation of Pakistan Chamber of Commerce and Industry (FPCCI) 2020 for all vice presidents seats, while former provincial minister Mian Anjum Nisar and Abdul Ghani Usman have already been nominated for the slots of president and senior vice president respectively.
PIAF Chairman Mian Nauman Kabir announced the names of candidates for the election of vice presidentship including Khurram Ijaz, Dr Muhammad Arshad, Col (R) Tauqirul Islam, Sheikh Sultan Rehman, Qeisar Khan, Malik Sarfaraz Nazim Awan and Abdl Qayum Qureshi.
The meeting was attended by Tariq Sayeed, Mian Anjum Nisar, Haji Ghulam Ali, Mian Zahid Hussain, Zakria Usman, Shaukat Ahmed, Sheikh Aslam, Mirza Abdul Rehman, Shahzeb Akram and Adnan Jalil, besides representatives of country’s all major chambers and trade associations. On this occasion, the representatives of majority of chambers and associations from all four provinces announced unconditional support to the Businessmen Panel in the upcoming elections of the FPCCI.
Governor said that the government is well aware of the problems being faced by the trade and industrial sectors and it is undertaking every possible measure to provide a level-playing field to the business community for which their consultation is imperative.
Chaudhry Sarwar appreciated the role being played by the private sector, particularly the Businessmen Panel of the FPCCI, in the country’s economic development.
He said it was government’s strategy to reduce trade deficit by curbing import of non-essential and luxury items. The government was also striving to reduce the cost of doing business by ensuring supply of gas at concessional tariff for export-oriented industry, he added.
Addressing the meeting Mian Anjum Nisar demanded the earliest release of all refund claims of the export sector to help exporters overcome their liquidity crunch, besides meeting their export orders well in time.
Mian Anjum Nisar observed that the exporters are facing severe liquidity crunch issue while their representative elected trade body is doing nothing in this regard and playing a role of a quiet spectator only, which is very shameful. He lamented that meeting the operating expenses has become a challenge for the export sector because of the acute shortage of liquidity, forcing the manufacturers to shut their units.
He said that billions of rupees stuck up refunds, soaring interest rate and high energy cost have turned the local industry un-competitive in the global market.
He said that the high cost of doing business has not only ousted Pakistani products from the international marketplace but is also jacking up the graph of unemployment.
He observed that all over the world the responsibility of economic diplomacy and development has largely been shifted from governments to private sector institutions, lamenting that presently Federation of Pakistan Chambers of Commerce and Industry has distanced itself from its national duty of projecting Pakistan’s potential at international trade, investment, and economic events.
He said that the apex trade bodies always promote economic diplomacy and it has become a global trend to utilize the strength and capacity of such private sector representative bodies for economic and political diplomacy. But unfortunately the FPCCI has failed to raise its voice and advocate its economic policies in front of the government as well as at the international platforms, he added.
The BMP chairman and presidential candidate said that the BMP will put their best to pull out the FPCCI from crises for which consultation of is amust. “Our message is very well conveyed to all EC and GB members of the Federation who are voters as well. It’s time to revive the glory of the FPCCI which is the needed of the hour and utmost demand of the business community of Pakistan.”
Additional input with INP
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