FAISALABAD: Newly designated Trade & Investment Officers (TIOs) must ensure close liaison with the business community and exploit their expertise for the sustained economic stability of Pakistan, said Dr Khurram Tariq, President Faisalabad Chamber of Commerce & Industry (FCCI). He was addressing the TIOs who visited FCCI here on Wednesday.

Earlier Senior Vice President Dr Sajjad Arshad introduced Faisalabad and FCCI and said that it was the first time that President FCCI was elected as the Chairman Tax Anomaly Committee. He welcomed the TIOs and said that our joint effort is to promote Pakistan as a peaceful, responsible and economically stable country of the world.

He said that enhanced exports, maximum FDI and remittances are imperative to put the country on a growth trajectory. He further said that all major segments including business community, civil & military bureaucracy, judiciary and politicians should join hands to achieve the cherished objectives of progress and prosperity.

He stressed the need for institutional linkages for sustained, continued and uninterrupted policies. He said that Pakistan has a wide range of exportable surplus but we must ensure value addition to fetch maximum profit from the exports.

Rana Shahzad Ahmad Director General TDAP Punjab said that 39 TIOs have been nominated for different potential markets. “They belong to different groups including some from the private sector,” he said and prioritized improving the overall image of Pakistan followed by promotion of companies and their products.

He said that an improved image of Pakistan would help foreign investors to launch joint ventures with their Pakistani counterparts along with technology transfer. He said that available economic data would also be uploaded on the website of the Ministry of Commerce for the benefit of the business community.

He assured that designated TIOs would also strive to remove the tariff and non-tariff barriers to provide easy access to the Pakistani exporters to global markets. He said that tourism is the most neglected segment of the services sector and we should also focus on it which would ultimately play a key role in discouraging brain drain.

He said that TIOs in an embassy have to look after 575 different sectors and hence they need active cooperation and guidance of the business community.

Copyright Business Recorder, 2024