7th APSG conference begins

A two-day 7th All Pakistan Secretary General's (APSG) conference has started, with the Chambers and Trade Associations secretaries general met under the auspices of CIPE and discussed various capacity and net-working related issues. The opening remarks were given by CIPE Deputy Country Director Hammad Siddique who spoke at length on the role of trade bodies for the economic well-being.
He stressed the need for capacity building of the chambers and trade associations to achieve the goal of progress and prosperity.
He said this was the seventh conference where participants were given awareness about their role in their respective institutions and was optimistic that after the conference ended, the participants would be well equipped to face the upcoming challenges.
Huzaifa Shabbir Hussain talked about his experience of working with small chambers of commerce and industry and brought to the limelight the weaknesses in their working and gave quite a few very valuable suggestions.
Islamabad Chamber of Commerce and Industry (ICCI) Secretary General Majid Shabbir spoke on DGTO compliance, membership, election and day to day issues.
His Lahore Chamber of Commerce and Industry (LCCI) counterpart, Shahid Khalil, said the role of trade associations, chambers of commerce, large corporations and the business groups in the economic development had become an important area of research.
He also said the productivity, importance and the role of the local chambers and the trade specific associations was a must for economic stability of the country.
Giving a detailed briefing on his chamber role in policy making, he said the chamber was playing its due role for promotion of trade and industry in the country.
He said the chamber was also quite conscious of its Corporate Social Responsibility. "It has two self-sustaining projects; Shalimar Hospital and LABARD on its credit.
The Shalimar Hospital is providing modern health facilities to the common people while LABARD is not only acting as placement body for the disabled persons of the society but also provides relevant training to the young minds in an effort to rehabilitate them," he added.