Haji Fazal Kadir Khan Sherani, President of the Federation of Pakistan Chambers of Commerce and Industry (FPCCI) has strongly condemned the statement by the so-called President of the Pakistan-Afghanistan Joint Chamber of Commerce and Industry (PAJCCI) published in a section of the press recently.
In this regard, FPCCI would like to clarify that the usage of the term “Joint Chamber” by PAJCCI is a misnomer, as the body has been formed not as a result of an agreement between the national chambers of Pakistan and Afghanistan, but rather as an agreement between the national chamber of Afghanistan, and three district-level chambers from Pakistan. It may be pointed out that FPCCI, which encompasses 48 chambers of commerce and industry and 96 trade associations, is the apex body of Pakistan’s private sector.
FPCCI is the national chamber of commerce, and incidentally, the three regional chambers representing Pakistan in PAJCCI are all members of FPCCI. In the presence of a national chamber which has a well-established practice of signing MoUs with counterpart bodies (for example, the India Pakistan Joint Chamber of Commerce and Industry, formed as a result of collaboration between FPCCI and the Federation of Indian Chambers of Commerce and Industry, FICCI); the need for a parallel arrangement without the involvement of FPCCI appears not only unnecessary but also illegal.
Furthermore, it is extremely unfortunate that this body has been formed with the patronage of the British High Commission, and we sincerely believe that any funding by the High Commission or any other agency directed towards this joint chamber would be illegal, and would certainly lead to complications of great magnitude, thereby not setting a good precedent for the future.
It may be further mentioned that FPCCI has already raised the issue of formation of this joint chamber with both the Ministry of Commerce and the British High Commission very categorically, but we have not received any response from them which means that the FPCCI’s stance has been accepted.
Businessmen appeal for early completion of Islamabad Citizen Club
Local businessmen in a meeting of ICCI Sub-Committee on CDA appealed to the Chief Justice of Pakistan to allow the start of pending construction work on Islamabad Citizen Club in F-9 Park as it was a project of public interest. Presiding over the meeting, Asad Farid, Acting President, Islamabad Chamber of Commerce & Industry said that CDA should explore the option of public-private partnership for early completion of this important project so that citizens of Islamabad could avail a better community facility. He said that many entrepreneurs have shown interest to become joint partner for completion of Islamabad Citizen Club and called upon the CDA to form a Committee comprising representatives of CDA and private sector to make a joint venture arrangement for its construction. He said ICCI could help CDA in finding private partners for the project. The Committee Members said that they had taken up many issues of business community with CDA like allotment of plots for construction of a dispensary for industrial labor & multi-storey flats for small traders, bifurcation of single owner adjacent industrial plots to set up separate industrial units and removal of encroachments from markets. However, all these issues were still unresolved, which showed the lackluster approach of CDA to address the issues of business community. They were of the view that traders and industrialists were playing a major role in promoting commercial activities and strengthening the local economy. Therefore, CDA should give priority attention to their issues so that entrepreneurs could expand businesses and create more job opportunities for unemployed youth. Asad Farid also stressed for early shifting of courts from F-8 Markaz to some other place because existence of courts in this important Markaz has diminished the commercial value of the area and was badly hurting the business interests of entrepreneurs. He said that industrialists have to pay 5-6 percent cost on registration of industrial plots while CDA was also charging another 4-5 percent as transfer fee. He urged that instead of getting double charges from industrialists on this account, CDA should provide them relief to help boosting industrial activities in Islamabad.