KARACHI: Muhammad Jawed Bilwani, Zia ul Arfeen and Faisal Khalil were elected as President, Senior Vice President and Vice President of the Karachi Chamber of Commerce & Industry (KCCI) respectively for 2024-26 at the 63rd Annual General Meeting held at KCCI’s Auditorium.
Chairman Businessmen Group (BMG) Zubair Motiwala, Vice Chairmen BMG Anjum Nisar and Mian Abrar Ahmed, General Secretary BMG AQ Khalil, new President Jawed Bilwani, new Senior Vice President Zia ul Arfeen, new elected Vice President Faisal Khalil, retiring President Iftikhar Ahmed Sheikh, retiring Senior Vice President Altaf A Ghaffar and retiring Vice President Tanveer Ahmed Barry, former presidents, Managing Committee Members and a large number of general body members were also present at the AGM.
Speaking on the occasion, Chairman BMG Zubair Motiwala stated that it was truly a rejoicing day for all the BMGIANs as this year’s results of the election clearly indicated that BMG continues to enjoy the overwhelming support of majority of the business community including all seven industrial town associations, sector-specific trade bodies, exports associations, community associations and many others who strongly believe that BMG is the only group which is capable of getting Karachi’s issues amicably resolved.
“We have won this year’s elections with an exceptional margin of 82 percent whereas our opponents were able to fetch just 18 percent which makes us really proud,” he said while thanking all BMG supporters, particularly the small traders, besides appreciating the efforts made by all BMGIANs who did a splendid job to ensure yet another victory for BMG.
Commenting on the performance of retiring Office Bearers, Chairman BMG appreciated Iftikhar Sheikh for efficiently highlighting the problems being faced by Karachi in front of the prime minister, federal ministers,cChairman FBR, and other dignitaries who visited KCCI during his tenure.
“All retiring office-bearers deserved to be praised for doing a great job by smoothly carrying out KCCI’s affairs,” he said while referring to some of the initiatives taken by the Senior Vice President for digitalizing the records of KCCI’s finance and attestation departments.
“We plan to make KCCI completely paperless and we are progressing well in this regard.”
Zubair Motiwala further mentioned that 10 members think-tank comprising three PHDs, energy experts, one chartered accountant, and others has been established at KCCI who are carrying out extensive research and giving valuable suggestions on how to efficiently deal with numerous economic issues.
“It is one of the notable achievements that KCCI’s Research Centre is currently working on formulating the industrial policy for Nigeria and Kenya whereas the SIFC and the organizers of IDEAS exhibition also intend to avail services of our research center.”
Referring to Mian Abrar Ahmed’s suggestion about the establishment of KCCI’s own University, he said that the Karachi Chamber was already working on this project as the Chamber is a member of the Board of NUTECH University’s Karachi Campus.
“Land for setting up NUTECH University in Karachi has already been acquired and we are currently pursuing the release of funds from EDF for this purpose,” he said, adding that NUTECH University, which is governed by the Pakistan Army, is an excellent university with a sole motto of enhancing the exports and it is a university capable of changing the economic landscape of Pakistan.
Underscoring the need to make collective efforts, he urged all the BMGIANs particularly the newly-elected members of the Managing Committee and the office- bearers to ensure maximum participation in KCCI meetings so that effective strategies could be devised for convincing the government to pay maximum attention to the legitimate demands of Karachi’s business community.
While paying glowing tribute to founder chairman BMG Siraj Kassam Teli (late) for his tireless efforts to uplift Karachi and its business community, Zubair Motiwala said that all the achievements and the position attained by Karachi Chamber can only be attributed to Late Siraj Teli who will always be remembered for building a strong foundation of Businessmen Group and also for his matchless services to business community as well as society.
He pledged that the new office-bearers will try their best to resolve all the pending issues concerning federal and provincial governments. He also emphasized that work on the construction of KCCI’s new building should also be initiated by new office-bearers while special attention must also be paid to the issues faced by small traders, shopkeepers, and the SMEs who are the backbone of the country’s economy.
On the occasion, Vice Chairman BMG Anjum Nisar stated that retiring office-bearers have done an excellent job and was fairly optimistic that keeping in view the dynamism of Jawed Bilwani, the newly-elected team will be able to perform even better than their predecessors.
“Focus should be on bringing in and encouraging new entrepreneurs and efforts must also be made to ensure that the wheels of industries continue to spin without any interruption. Although Jawed Bilwani is the team leader, he won’t be able to deliver alone, hence, all industrial town associations and the rest of the business community should fully support him in his quest so that we could fulfill all the doable commitments made to the business community during the election campaign.”
Vice Chairman BMG Mian Abrar Ahmed, in his remarks, suggested that the Karachi Chamber should look into the possibility of setting up its university which would certainly prove favorable not only for the industries but also for the citizens of this city.
Copyright Business Recorder, 2024