Although the Federation of Pakistan Chambers of Commerce and Industry (FPCCI) presidentship's election for the two-year term, ie 2005-06, is still two months away, the candidates in the run for the coveted office have launched their campaigns in right earnest.
There are two groups, Businessmen Forum (BF) and Businessmen Panel (BP), who would vie for all the eight offices, ie President and seven Vice-Presidents. Four Vice-Presidents would come from four provinces, one from Azad Jammu and Kashmir (AJK), one from associations and one representing the chambers. The President will come from the AJK, being its term this time.
The first to jump into the fray is Sardar Mohammad Ashraf Khan, the BF nominee for the office of the President. He travelled to Hyderabad along with his cohorts on November 1 at the invitation of Hyderabad Chamber of Commerce and Industry (HCCI) President Mehmood Ahmed Khan and HCCI nominee Abdul Razzaq Memon on reserved seat of FPCCI's managing committee. An old campaigner, Memon has remained several times HCCI President.
In order to assure the HCCI's unflinching support for the BF, Sardar Ashraf and his associates were profusely garlanded and taken from the toll plaza in a motorcade to the HCCI office on Aiwan-e-Tijarat Road Saddar, Hyderabad. It was the first show of strength, in which about 100 members of the business community had gathered for the Iftar-dinner function, which was organised for the visiting guests.
In his welcome address Mehmood Ahmed Khan announced unconditional support for the BF in the forthcoming FPCCI elections and said the HCCI appreciated the policies of BF leader, Senator Ilyas Bilour, for his initiative in seeking honourable business governance laws and his bold stand on issues confronting the business community.
Abdul Razzaq Memon in his brief remarks assured his vote in the election for the President and said that that decision had been fully endorsed by all the seniors and members of the executives of the HCCI.
HCCI Senior Vice-President Ansari said the initiative taken by the HCCI, to extend unanimous support to the BF, would hopefully be followed by other chambers and associations, particularly in Sindh. He appealed to all the voters to support Sardar Ashraf for the office of President.
In reply to the welcoming speeches, Sardar Ashraf thanked the HCCI for announcing its support for him and other BF candidates, and the warm welcome accorded to him and his associates on arrival in Hyderabad.
He assured the audience that winning or losing apart, the problems of Hyderabad business community would, from now on, remain a liability for him to be resolved. In case he won, the first meeting of the FPCCI managing committee would be held in Hyderabad, he announced to resounding thumping of desks by the audience.
He said that he was alive to the problems of the city, which called for considerable investment in improving infrastructure so that it regained its position of providing a base for industrialisation.
All the areas, which are likely to generate economic activities in the jurisdiction of chambers, are also his responsibility. The restoration of image and strengthening of the FPCCI would remain his priority considerations so that it was the government which approached the apex trade body to seek suggestions to help improve business climate in the country for Gross Domestic Products (GDP) growth, he said,
Sardar Ashraf said that merit and consideration of uplifting backward areas through preferential support by the government would be his key agenda, which he would chase after his election as President.
"The start of election campaign from Hyderabad, the unforgettable reception and unconditional support will remain memorable," he said with a touch of nostalgia in his expression.
Last but not the least, he assured that he would improve the financial discipline and restore financial health of the FPCCI.
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