The private sector has suggested to the government to take a policy shift to promote the culture of small and medium businesses in Pakistan, besides tapping potential of agro-based industry for increasing farm productivity for food security to the people.
The Federation of Pakistan Chamber of Commerce and Industry (FPCCI) president Shaikh Tanvir Ahmed, Saarc Chamber of Commerce and Industry president Tariq Sayeed and co-chairman Iftikhar Ali Malik gave their views for promotion of Small and Medium Enterprises (SMEs) livestock and agro-based industry at a seminar held in Islamabad. In his concluding remarks, Tanvir Shaikh urged the government to help private sector become vibrant in practical terms and play its role in making the economy strong to take the challenges that confront Pakistan upfront. He said the government should reduce burden of the taxes on the industry and business and come up with a plan to increase tax net for generating more revenue in the future.
Tariq Sayeed stressed the need of facilitating SMEs for creating more jobs and helping the government to cut down poverty in Pakistan. He said SMEs sector was playing a vital role in the developing countries but it was being ignored in Pakistan. He suggested that the government should provide loans to SMEs on concessional rates. Saarc president referred the case of many Saarc countries that were giving preferential treatment to SMEs sector and benefiting from it in providing jobs to their people.
Iftikhar Ali Malik said the food crisis was a global phenomenon and it needs to be addressed on war footing. He demanded from the private sector that it should contribute in a big way to take on social responsibilities. He said "instead of waiting for a miracle to happen to protect the poor it's the responsibility of those who have resources to take care of them who deserve to be helped for social protection".