ICCI – Page 59 – PPI News Agency

ICT Administration and ICCI to collaborate for promoting Clean and Green Islamabad

Islamabad, March 05, 2019 (PPI-OT): Hamza Shafqaat, Deputy Commissioner, Islamabad visited Islamabad Chamber of Commerce and Industry and discussed the possibilities of collaborating with ICCI for promoting clean and green Islamabad under the Prime Minister’s initiative of Clean and Green Pakistan Program. He said Prime Minister Imran Khan has asked for planting 10 million trees in Islamabad and business community should come forward to achieve this target. He said ICT Administration has decided to eliminate the use of plastic bags for clean environment and urged that business community should cooperate by phasing out the usage of plastic bags.

The Deputy Commissioner said that ICT Administration has nominated Sanitation Magistrates in Islamabad and business community should cooperate with them to ensure cleanliness in the federal capital. He agreed to give representative to ICCI and market associations in Price Control Committees. He said ICCI should hold monthly meetings with ICT Administration to resolve the issues of business community. He also assured to take measures for resolving the issues highlighted by the business community in the meeting.

Speaking at the occasion, Ahmed Hassan Moughal, President, Islamabad Chamber of Commerce and Industry said that close cooperation between ICCI and local administration was very important to resolve issues of business community with mutual efforts. He stressed that ICCI should be given representation in Administration’s Market Committee to safeguard the interests of business community.

He said ICCI and Market Associations should also be given representation in Price Control Committees of ICT Administration so that with joint efforts, prices in markets could be kept at reasonable level. He said in case of complaint against any trader, instead of sealing shops, Price Control Committee should take ICCI and concerned Market Union on board so that with joint efforts such issues could be resolved. He hoped that the Deputy Commissioner would give due consideration to the highlighted issues of business community to resolve them.

Rafat Farid Senior Vice President and Iftikhar Anwar Sethi Vice President ICCI lauded the Clean and Green Program of the current government and assured that ICCI would fully support this program to make it successful. They said that ICT Administration should allocate space for tree plantation under this program to various organizations. They said a parking facility for heavy duty vehicles in Sabzi Mandi should be provided to facilitate transporters. They said a phase-wise approach should be adopted for eliminating the use of plastic bags and a proper awareness campaign should be run on print and electronic media for using substitutes of plastic bags.

Tariq Sadiq, Zafar Bakhtawari, Khalid Chaudhry, Tahir Abbasi, Ajmal Baloch, Tahir Ayub, Muhammad Ahmed, Muhammad Ali Mirza, Babar Chaudhry and others also spoke at the occasion and highlighted various issues of business community that needed close attention of ICT Administration for redress.

For more information, contact:
Islamabad Chamber of Commerce and Industry (ICCI)
Chamber House, Aiwan-e-Sanat-o-Tijarat Road,
Mauve Area, G-8/1, Islamabad, Pakistan
Tel: +92-51-2250526, 2253145, 8432676
Fax: +92-51-2252950
Email: icci@brain.net.pk, info@icci.com.pk
Website: www.icci.com.pk

ICCI calls for incentives to taxpayers for promoting tax culture

Islamabad, March 04, 2019 (PPI-OT): Ahmed Hassan Moughal, President, Islamabad Chamber of Commerce and Industry has called upon the government to consider giving good incentives to regular taxpayers that would motivate others to pay tax and promote tax culture in the country. He said businessmen wanted to pay tax, but instead of broadening tax base, FBR’s measures to create harassment in the existing taxpayers were discouraging others to come into the tax net.

Ahmed Hassan Moughal said that Prime Minister Imran Khan himself acknowledged while addressing a tax awards ceremony that Pakistan could not prosper with just 1.7 million people filing tax returns in a country of 210 million people. He stressed that government should come up with attractive incentives for taxpayers to honour them that would motivate others to pay tax. He said Prime Minister Imran Khan termed the high taxpayers as true VIPs of Pakistan, which was encouraging, but added that government should take some practical measures to give them honour and dignity in society.

He said declaring income of over Rs.200,000 by only 72,000 persons from across the country should be a cause of concern for policymakers. He said the main reason of tax evasion in the country was that the money of taxpayers was not being spent on providing better health, education and other facilities to people. He assured that ICCI would cooperate in resolving the issues of the traders of Blue Area.

Rafat Farid Senior Vice President and Iftikhar Anwar Sethi Vice President ICCI said that recent publication of tax directory by FBR showed stark contradiction in the tax amount paid by various politicians and their lifestyle. They stressed that politicians should be role models in tax payment to promote tax culture in the country.

CDA and MCI asked to address issues of Blue Area Traders

Islamabad, March 04, 2019 (PPI-OT): Ahmed Hassan Moughal, President, Islamabad Chamber of Commerce and Industry said that Blue Area was the largest business bay in Islamabad, but was facing many problems. He called upon the CDA and MCI to address key issues of the traders of Blue Area including underpass and car parking. He said this while addressing a delegation of All Traders Welfare Association Blue Area Islamabad that visited ICCI led by its President Yousaf Rajput. He assured that ICCI would fully cooperate with All Traders Welfare Association, Blue Area in resolving key issues of traders of the area.

Rafat Farid Senior Vice President and Iftikhar Anwar Sethi Vice President ICCI said that Blue Area was playing important role in the development of the local economy. They stressed that CDA, MCI, FBR, IESCO and other relevant organizations should focus on resolving the problems of traders of Blue Area to facilitate the growth of trade activities.

Speaking at the occasion, Yousaf Rajput President and Raja Hassan Akhtar Secretary General, All Traders Welfare Association, Blue Area, Islamabad said that Blue Area said at the time of construction of Metro Bus track in Blue Area, no underpass was provided due to which traders and customers were facing great difficulty in crossing from one side of the business track to the other side in Blue Area.

They called upon CDA and MCI to construct underpass near Saudi Pak Tower, build U-turn at Jinnah Avenue, arrange plantation on the green belt on Fazal-e-Haq Road, overhaul streets in Blue Area, repair footpaths, address sewerage issue, signboard tax and trade license issues. They said that due to absence of rent control law in Islamabad, traders were facing problems and called upon the government to arrange early passage of amended rent control bill from the parliament for promulgation of new rent law.

Zubair Ahmed Malik Chairman Founder Group, M. Ejaz Abbasi Vice President FPCCI, Malik Sohail Hussain Chief Coordinator FPCCI, Ch. Nadeem ud Din President PTI Traders Wing, Ajmal Baloch President Markazi Anjuman-e-Tijaran Islamabad, Khalid Chaudhry and others also addressed the meeting and stressed for the need of resolving key issues of Blue Area traders. The business community expressed complete solidarity with the Armed Forces of Pakistan and reiterated that they would stand shoulder to shoulder with Pakistani Armed Forces in time of need.

Business Community asked to tap Russian market for exports

Islamabad, March 04, 2019 (PPI-OT): A delegation of Pakistani entrepreneurs doing business in Moscow visited Islamabad Chamber of Commerce and Industry and said that Russian was a huge market for Pakistani exports and business community of Pakistan should capitalize on this untapped market for promoting exports. Noor Habib Shah Chairman Pakistan Community Russia, Dr. Shahid Hasan, Shahid Ghuman and others were in the delegation.

The delegates said that except for oil and gas, Russia was meeting over 95 percent needs of its people through imports and Pakistan has great potential to export many products to Russia including food products, textiles, surgical instruments, pharmaceuticals, leather products, sports goods and others. They said that many Pakistani products were reaching Russian market through Europe and USA at higher cost while direct trade between Pakistan and Russia would yield much better results for both countries.

The delegation members said that 12-15 companies from Sialkot have opened their offices in Moscow and stressed that more should come as doing business was quite easy in Russia. They said that Pakistan was mostly focusing on EU and West for exports, but added that it could make significant increase in its exports by paying more attention to Russia. They said there were 16000 wholesale stores in Moscow that offered great scope for Pakistani products. They said that ICCI should form a delegation for Moscow to see the business potential in Russian market and assured that they would extend full cooperation in arranging B2B meetings of ICCI delegation with right partners in Russia.

Speaking at the occasion, Ahmed Hassan Moughal, President, Islamabad Chamber of Commerce and Industry said that Government of Pakistan should cooperate with private sector in opening warehouses in Moscow and other major Russian cities that would help in introducing Pakistani products in Russian market. He said Pakistan and Russia should focus on opening bank branches on reciprocal basis, which was necessary to promote bilateral trade between the two countries. He assured that ICCI would consider taking a delegation to Moscow to explore Russian market.

Rafat Farid Senior Vice President and Iftikhar Anwar Sethi Vice President Islamabad Chamber of Commerce and Industry said that Pakistan and Russia should encourage frequent exchange of trade delegations to explore all potential areas of mutual cooperation. They said that initially 9 Special Economic Zones would be built in Pakistan under CPEC and urged that Russian investors should be persuaded to explore Pakistan for JVs and investment in CPEC and in other sectors of our economy.

ICCI launches “Call for Cleantech Innovation Awards 2019” Competition under NCTP

Islamabad, March 01, 2019 (PPI-OT): The Islamabad Chamber of Commerce and Industry (ICCI) has launched the “Call for Cleantech Innovations Awards 2019” competition under National Cleantech Platform (NCTP) to promote sustainable models of cleantech innovations in Pakistan. The competition would be open for applications from all SMEs and startups in Pakistan to propose innovative solutions of industrial issues in four categories viz. plastic waste recycling, renewable energy, robotics and artificial intelligence and waste to energy.

The application template could be downloaded from ICCI website and applicants could apply online by 25th March 2019 to participate in the competition. The national winner of the competition will get international exposure, mentoring and training support. The national winner and runner up will get cash awards with free business development support from ICCI, Silver membership of Pakistan Institute of Management and linkages with international investors.

Addressing the launching ceremony, Ahmed Hassan Moughal, President, Islamabad Chamber of Commerce and Industry said that clean technologies have a potential of multi-trillions dollar future industry and Pakistani innovators should come up with innovative ideas in clean technologies to resolve issues of industry and society. He said that ICCI has the Chair of NCTP for 2-years, and would make it a useful platform to promote cleantech innovations.

He appreciated UNIDO’s efforts for running GCIP very successfully in Pakistan for the last 4 years that provided great opportunities to Pakistani SMEs, entrepreneurs, innovators and startup companies to pitch their brilliant ideas. Under this program, Pakistani innovators won global award for 3-consective years and urged that maximum innovators should participate in this competition to transform their business ideas into successful businesses.

Rafat Farid Senior Vice President and Iftikhar Anwar Sethi thanked the participants and hoped that the competition would provide good opportunity to innovators to maximize their business prospects. The representatives of public and private sector organizations participated in the program and assured to support this initiative of ICCI to make it successful.

The Business Community vows support for Armed Forces

Islamabad, February 28, 2019 (PPI-OT): Ahmed Hassan Moughal, President, Islamabad Commerce and Industry (ICCI) said that the business community of the entire country was standing with the armed forces of Pakistan in this critical situation and would extend all possible cooperation and support to our forces to thwart the nefarious designs of our country’s enemy.

Ahmed Hassan Moughal said that the political and military leadership of Pakistan has given a clear message of peace, which should be reciprocated by the same spirit from the other side to keep the South Asian region peaceful. He paid tribute to the Pakistan Air Force for having foiled a bid of aggression by the Indian Air Force and giving a befitting response to show that PAF was fully capable to defend the frontiers of the country.

Rafat Farid Senior Vice President and Iftikhar Anwar Sethi Vice President, Islamabad Chamber of Commerce and Industry said that Pakistan was a peaceful country but its desire for peace should not be taken as weakness. They said that if war was deliberately imposed on Pakistan or our sovereignty was challenged, then the whole nation would be in shoulder to shoulder with armed forces to defend our Motherland against any aggression.

DGTO asks trade bodies to supplement Govt. drive for promoting trade, exports and investment inflows

Islamabad, February 26, 2019 (PPI-OT):The Islamabad Chamber of Commerce and Industry in collaboration with Directorate General Trade Organizations organized 4th DGTO Consultative Session at Chamber House for capacity building of Secretaries General and Office Bearers of Trade Organizations of North Region. 18 chambers, 15 associations, 3 coordinating trade bodies, 2 small chambers and 1 women chamber of North Region participated in the session.

Addressing the Consultative Session, Waqar Ahmad Shah, Director General, Directorate General of Trade Organizations called upon the trade bodies and associations to supplement the government drive for promoting trade, export and investment inflows as the private sector has to take the lead in the economic development of the country.

He said trade bodies representing private sector are critical for the successful achievement of economic and trade policies of the government. He said the process to strengthen trade bodies and turn them into credible institutions is important as their improved performance would help in promoting Pakistan’s trade, industry and services sectors.

Waqar Ahmad Shah said that the office of DGTO is responsible to implement the provisions of Trade Organizations Act (TOA) and Trade Organizations Rules (TORs) 2013. He said understanding of regulatory regimes by the functionaries and office bearers is very important to bring efficiency and transparency in trade bodies so that they could better serve their members. He gave a detailed presentation to participants on the salient features of TOA and TORs 2013.

Speaking at the occasion, Ahmed Hassan Moughal, President, Islamabad Chamber of Commerce and Industry said that the Office of DGTO should bring further amendments in rules and regulations for TOs in consultation with stakeholders to bring them in conformity with the current day’s requirements. He appreciated the initiative of DGTO for organizing consultative session on capacity building of the functionaries and office bearers of trade bodies and stressed that such sessions should be organized in all major chambers of commerce and associations across the country to create maximum awareness in private sector about TOs rules and regulations that would help in improving their performance and promoting trade and exports of the country.

Rafat Farid Senior Vice President, Iftikhar Anwer Sethi Vice President ICCI, Mian Tanveer Ahmed Senior Vice President Faisalabad CCI also spoke at the occasion and stressed for the need of further strengthening trade bodies and associations. Technical session and panel discussions were also held at the occasion.