Former convener of Founders Group in the Lahore Chamber of Commerce & Industry (LCCI) and executive committee member of the ruling group Chaudhry Zaka Ashraf has said that the chamber president has no mandate to review the already signed memoranda of understanding (MoUs) with the Federation of Indian Chambers of Commerce & Industry (FICCI), as he has never taken up the issue in the Executive Committee for such a purpose.
In a statement issued here on Wednesday, he claimed that the Executive Committee is unaware of the so-called MoUs in question.
While expressing his wonders over the LCCI President's statement that he was leading a 74-member delegation to India along with their families to review the already signed MoUs with FICCI, Ch Zaka Ashraf said: "how the LCCI President could review the already signed MoUs without having a proper homework on same in consultation with the executive committee members and approval of the federal government."
It would be appropriate for the LCCI President to put his house in order before taking up the contentious issues with regional competitors, Chaudhry Zaka proposed.
He said that the LCCI chief has not taken the Executive Committee into confidence before heading for such an adventurous tour and added that the delegation looks more of a picnic party than of members of LCCI interested to promote trade between the two countries.
According to him, the visit of LCCI delegation is not only purposeless but also wastage of funds of the Export Promotion Bureau (EPB).
He also urged the Commerce Ministry to direct the EPB not to release funds to the LCCI for such 'picnic party tours' and appealed to the federal government to hold an enquiry to find out the purpose of this visit.