Rafique Suleman has taken charge as Senior Vice Chairman of Rice Exporters Association of Pakistan (REAP) for 2017-18. Annual elections of REAP were held in North and South Zones simultaneously. In South Zone, all the (5) candidates for the Managing Committee nominated by South Zone Group of Abdul Rahim Janoo were declared successful un-opposed, whereas in North Zone, all the seats were won by Founder Group unopposed.
As per announcement by the Election Committee, Ch Samee Ullah Naeem of Founder Group has been elected unopposed Chairman of the association for the year 201-18. Rafique Suleman and Hamdullah Khan Tareen of South Zone Group were elected unopposed Senior Vice Chairman and Vice Chairman respectively. While, Haseeb Ali Khan, nominated for Treasure, were also declared successful unopposed.
Similarly, from South Zone, Abdul Qayum Paracha, Safder Hussain Mehkri, Teka Mal Manghowani, Muhammad Javed and Muhammad Asif Polani have been elected Member Managing Committee for one year. In addition, Ali Hussam Asghar, Waqas Aslam, Hassan Aziz and Haji Lal Muhammad were elected Member Managing Committee from North Zone. The new officer bearers took charge on October 1, 2017 for the tenure 2017-2018.
Rafique Suleman previously served the Association as Treasurer (2008-09), Vice Chairman during the period 2009-2010 and Chairman REAP during the tenure 2014-15. After taking charge of Senior Vice Chairman, Rafique said REAP members had remarkable performance despite global recession and international financial crunch and lower commodity prices in the world market.
"Rice exporters are striving hard to earn foreign exchange for the country and it is an example for our future trade players," he added. "The privatization of rice trade policy has played a vital role in increase in rice export and in a very short span of time of a decade the country's rice exports up from $ 300 million to reach $ 2.2 billion," he added.