FAISALABAD: Faisalabad Chamber of Commerce & Industry (FCCI) has started getting fruits of the first “Pakistan Economic Conference” and as a result of this mega event Malaysian and Saudi Arabian trade delegations are scheduled to visit Faisalabad on June 21 and 24 respectively, said Atif Munir Sheikh, President FCCI.

He was chairing a meeting of the office bearers of the leading industrial, commercial and business associations to make the visits of these delegations fruitful, productive and result oriented. Addressing the meeting, he said that Pakistan Economic Conference played a major role in projecting Faisalabad at the global level as an important hub of Industry, Commerce and Trade in South Asia and now it has been recognized as a potential city as foreign delegations are pouring in to develop direct business relations with our members. “The Saudi delegation of 35 leading business tycoons will arrive here on June 23”, he said and added that the delegates representing Real Estate, Construction, Education, Food, Agriculture, Logistics, renewable energies etc. would visit leading local industrial and commercial entities.

He said that the next day, the delegation would visit FCCI to interact with their counterparts. “In an official function, they would be briefed about the untapped industrial and commercial potential of this city”, he said and added that B2B meetings would be followed by it. President FCCI said that a facility of interpreters would also be provided enabling them to share their business plans with the visiting dignitaries.

Atif Munir Sheikh urged the local businessmen belonging to the specific sector to fully prepare themselves to make this event really meaningful. He said that a post-meeting session would also be arranged to fine tune the identified issues and materialize the mutually agreed proposal on a fast track basis.

President, Atif Munir said that Trade & Investment Officers (TIOs) posted in different countries had also visited Faisalabad recently and they are expected to join their new responsibilities in their respective countries. They would also open new business avenues in addition to helping the FCCI members to enhance or start new exports to these countries with the help of the TIOs. President said that our first and foremost responsibility is to introduce an import substitution industry in collaboration with Saudi investors and it is an excellent opportunity to further expand our bilateral trade relations with this country.

Azahr Chaudhry, Executive Member said that we intend to make this event a total success with direct involvement of the real Stakeholders. He particularly mentioned the importance of the services sector and said that individuals hailing from this segment have also been invited for this event as Saudi Arabs are in dire need of our highly educated and skilled engineers, Chartered Accountants, Lawyers, Food technologists and Educationalists etc.

Former President, Engineer Ihtsham Javed said that we have surplus trained and highly skilled human resources which could be exported to Saudi Arabia to earn precious exchange. About the security of foreigners working in Faisalabad, he said that a separate foreigner’s block could be established in M3 Industrial zone with extra security measures.

Another former president, Chaudhry Muhammad Nawaz said that Pakistan has huge potential to produce and export organic fruits and vegetables to Saudi Arabia and other Gulf countries. He said that a party has cultivated and successfully harvested 400 bags of capsicum and 700 bags of tomato from only 25 acres of land. He said we could cultivate such crops in a vast area for export purposes.

Sheikh Fazil proposed that the Government should limit the regulatory duty to 5% for the import of raw materials while its rate should be 35% for the import of finished goods.

Chaudhry Talat Mehmood pointed out the importance of Halal Food and said that the share of Pakistan in the global Halal food market is quite negligible. He said that experts for Halal certifications may also be invited to participate in this meeting.

Khurram Shahzad, Mian Abdul Waheed, Sheikh Zulfiqar, Saif-ul-Qahar and Engineer Ahmad Hassan also participated in the meeting while Kashif Zia, Zonal Chairman Pakistan Hosiery Manufacturers and Exporters Association offered vote of thanks.

Copyright Business Recorder, 2022