Lahore, May 14, 2018 (PPI-OT): While acknowledging the role of business community for economic development of the country, Prime Minister Shahid Khaqan Abbasi has said that government is taking all possible measures to ensure business friendly environment in the country. He was speaking at the ceremony of “LCCI Achievement Awards – 2018”.
The LCCI President Malik Tahir Javaid, Senior Vice President Khawaja Khawar, Vice President Zeeshan Khalil, Federal Commerce Minister Pervez Malik, Federal Minister for Information Technology and Telecommunication Anusha Rehman, Federal Minister for Information and Broadcasting Mariam Aurangzeb, former LCCI office-bearers and Executive Committee Members were present on the occasion.
Prime Minister said that business community is the economic force of the country and its role is crucial for the progress and prosperity of the country and they should help the government to achieve the economic goals. He said that our Government is taking long-term, mid-term and short term measures to bring the economy back on the rail. The continuous support and co-operation extended by the business community have significantly improved the health of official revenues that gives me an immense satisfaction.
The LCCI President Malik Tahir Javaid, while highlighting the issues being faced by the business community, said that LCCI showed concerns over the decision of dissolving Engineering Development Board but it was done. He said that imposition of Regulatory Duties on such raw materials, which are not produced locally, affected the local industry which further resulted in decline in exports. He said that steel is a basic raw material of many industries and due to imposition of regulatory duty on it, the local industry has been driven out of competition. Industrial Support Package which was announced in 2016 was withdrawn in Federal Budget 2018-19.
The LCCI President said that if the private sector, which is the main stakeholder of the economy, was engaged in policy making then we could have played our role in formulating business friendly policies. “We look forward to be part of standing committees of National Assembly and Senate. Similarly, the leading Chambers of Commerce must be approached for caretaker political set-up. By way of engaging representatives of private sector, the government can ensure better and board-based implementation of policies”, Malik Tahir Javaid added.
He said that new markets and new products need to be explored to reduce country’s dependence on few commodities and countries. The leading export sectors of Pakistan have their own importance in terms of earning foreign exchange and employing a major chunk of indigenous resources but we cannot overlook these facts that the share of engineering products in total global trade is almost 60%. It is high time that we have to re-allocate our resources ad attention to engineering sector.
He said that agriculture is the worldwide baseline for food security and life security and it also provides national security. The agriculture sector of Pakistan supplies most of the raw material to industry in the form of food and cash crops. Lahore Chamber, keeping in view the importance of this sector took agriculture as a part of LCCI almost 10 years back. This sector needs more importance and concentration to be developed on world’s standard. Malik Tahir Javaid said that the global share of Halal Meat is around dollar 460 billion in which our share is negligible. We will have to give this sector top priority.
“We have been briefed about CPEC as a game changer project for Pakistan but we have to be aware of its flip side. We have serious concerns about acquisition of land by Chinese firm/nationals. The government must ensure that every one should have level playing field so that investors from other countries are also encouraged to consider Pakistan favourably”, the LCCI President said.
He said that another important area is unconstrained urbanization in major cities of Pakistan which is putting extra load on urban infrastructure/facilities. It has to be regulated and the government must provide basic facilities like education and health etc. in rural areas to cease this flow.
Earlier, Prime Minister Shahid Khaqan Abbasi distributed the Achievement Awards amongst the winners. Fawad Rana of Lahore Qalander received Pride of Lahore, Aqib Javed of Lahore Qalander received LCCI Gold Medal Appreciation Award, Qudratullah of Qudratullah and Co, Iftikhar Hussain of Ishtiaq Steel and Muhammad Afzal of Delta Packaging received LCCI Gold Medal, Shahzaib Akram of Mass Pharma, Qurat ul Ain Irfan of Pacific Pharmaceuticals, Dr. Sohail Mukhtar Ahmed of Ahmed Medix, Dr. Khalid Hameed of Tara Crop Sciences, Qais Rahman of Kalamkaar, Mian Muhammad Kaleem of Al-Tech Engineering and Manufacturers, Muhammad Shafiq of Bao Brother,Ahmad Irfan of Electro Tech Trading Co, Ahmad Shafiq of College of Tourism and Hotel Management, Irshad Ahmad Siddiqui of Ravi Advertising and Siddique Rehan of Commercial Carriers received Businessmen Achievement Award, Dr. Waqas Wahab of Clearpath Orthodontics received Emerging Enterprises, Riffat un Nisa of Khyam Publisers and Bushra Ruba of Door of Awareness received Women Entrepreneur of the Year, Mumtaz Khan Manais of Punjab Agriculture and Meat Company and Mian Shaukat Ali of Yuksel Seeds Asia received Professional Service Award.
For more information, contact:
Information Department
Lahore Chamber of Commerce and Industry (LCCI)
11-Shahrah-e-Aiwan-e-Tijarat,
Lahore -54000, Pakistan
Tel: +92-42-111-222-499
Fax: +92-42-36368854
Website: www.lcci.org.pk