The nominee of Businessmen Panel (BP) for the office of President of Federation of Pakistan Chambers of Commerce and Industry (FPCCI) for the 2007-2008 two-year term would be made through consensus.
This was stated by BP Chairman Tariq Sayeed at an iftar-dinner hosted by Mian Bashir Ahmed and Muhammad Idrees of Sitara Group of Industries in Faisalabad on October 14 in the honour of BP leaders, which included SM Muneer and FPCCI President Chaudhry Muhammad Saeed.
About 400 businessmen from Multan, Bahawalpur, Khaniwal, Gujranwala, Islamabad, Lahore, Dera Ghazi Khan, Sahiwal, Sargodha, Karachi, Jhang, Faisalabad and other cities participated in the function.
According to a message received here on Tuesday Muhammad Ayub Sabir, President, Faisalabad Chamber of Commerce and Industry (FCCI) in his address of welcome highlighted the importance of Faisalabad as the largest market of yarn in Asia and biggest textile city of Pakistan contributing $0.3 billion to exports of textile sector.
Despite that, he said none of the businessmen from Faisalabad had ever been considered for the presidential slot of FPCCI. He requested the BP leadership to elect Idrees as one of the Vice-Presidents in the coming elections. He also favoured the candidature of Tanvir Ahmed Sheikh for the office of President for the next two-year term.
In response Tariq Sayeed lauded the role of Faisalabad in Pakistan's economy and hoped that it would play more pro-active role in augmenting the country's exports. He praised the policies of the government in power and the dynamic leadership of President General Pervez Musharraf, who has great economic acumen and has put the country on the track of development.
Regarding the candidature of Idrees and Tanvir Sheikh, he said that he believed in politics of consensus and assured that the names of candidates would be finalised after due consultation on due completion of the election of managing committee in the first week of December.
FPCCI President Chaudhry Saeed in his address applauded the efforts of Faisalabad business community for the improvement in systems and procedures adopted to activate the Faisalabad chamber in line with the required pace of development.
He expressed satisfaction over the working of FCCI in the areas of infrastructure and R&D and assured all possible co-operation to fulfill the R&D need of the chamber. He further said that his group believed in politics of consensus and the business community was united under the present leadership of BP Chairman, Tariq Sayeed.