KARACHI: All Pakistan Fruit & Vegetable Exporters, Importers & Merchants Association (PFVA) has rejected the proposal to shift head office of the Federation of Pakistan Chambers of Commerce & Industry (FPCCI) from Karachi to Islamabad.

PFVA has termed it as a "deep conspiracy" against the businessmen's community and the most important platform of the trade bodies to keep it away from the economic hub of the country.

Reacting to the proposal of shifting head office of the FPCCI from Karachi to Islamabad, the Patron-in-Chief of PFVA, Waheed Ahmed, stated that the group running the FPCCI now could not manage to get any financial relief for the business community affected by the coronavirus pandemic, particularly the SMEs and small traders.

Karachi is an economic hub of the country generating 70 percent revenue for the federal government. The seaport of this city plays a vital role in export & import of various commodities besides fruits & vegetables and hence most of the problems of the businessmen's community of this city also relate to the federal departments located in Karachi, he added.

He said that the present leadership of the FPCCI had miserably failed in getting the issues of the business community of Karachi resolved from the federal departments located in Karachi. Nothing had been done to reduce demurrage and penalties imposed by the shipping companies during the pandemic. Similarly, many proposals submitted by the FPCCI for the federal budget had just been discarded, he added.

Copyright Business Recorder, 2020