After having hectic and high profile business meetings during their five-day stay in Turkey, the 37-member LCCI delegation Saturday reached London and had a very fruitful meeting at Pak-UK Chamber of Commerce. The delegation headed by LCCI president Irfan Qaiser Sheikh and comprising LCCI former Senior Vice Presidents Engineer Sohail Lashari, Tahir Javaid Malik, Executive Committee Members Khawaja Shahzeb Akram, Khawaja Khawar Rashid, Fahimur Rehman Saigol, Chaudhry Wajid Ali and other prominent businessmen belonging to all sectors of economy spent over two hours at Pak-UK Chamber of Commerce and Industry.
The LCCI delegation got a briefing of opportunities available in the UK for Pakistani businessmen besides having one-to one meetings with their counterparts in the United Kingdome. While welcoming the LCCI delegates, the President Pak-UK Chamber of Commerce and Industry Syed Qamar Raza threw light on the very objectives of the establishment of the chamber and said that the enhancement of trade between the United Kingdom and Pakistan, identification of mutual investment and business opportunities, provision of an optimum networking platform to maximise two way business are the targets that are being pursued day in and day out. He said that expatriate Pakistanis, particularly those living in the United Kingdom, are keen to make investment in Pakistan through joint ventures with potential businessmen. He said that UK being the fastest growing economy in the European Union, has a huge potential for Pakistani businessmen as the process of globalization is bringing the people closer and there is a need to learn from the experiences of each other. He said that the UK Pakistanis are committed to a long-term, productive and friendly partnership with their counterparts as they view it as a long-term strategic partner and Pak Uk Chamber would continue to support all LCCI endeavors aimed at expansion of trade relations between the two countries. He added that a good number of UK Pakistanis were already doing business in Pakistan and the LCCI delegation’s visit would further strengthen these relations. He said that it is needless to mention that “we must take advantage of each others’ strength. We believe that through collaboration, the role of UK based business community can be ensured in Pakistan.”
Speaking on the occasion, the LCCI President Irfan Qaiser Sheikh urged the UK Pakistanis to pay their due role in getting GSP Plus status from EU for bringing the much-needed economic turnaround. He said that for a sustained private sector based economic cooperation, there is need to develop and promote a network of business relations in both the countries. Exchange of trade delegations between the two countries can prove to be an effective strategy for boosting the level of bilateral trade. He said that to supplement exchange of information, sector specific weeks focusing on a selected field of interest like agricultural, health, energy, infrastructure, can be organized at major cities of Pakistan and UK. It will greatly help create mutual awareness. He assured UK Pakistanis of full LCCI support if they make investment in lucrative sectors like telecommunications, information technology, financial services, petrochemicals, livestock, dairy, consumer goods, food processing, pharmaceuticals, minerals, and particularly in energy sectors. The LCCI President said that Pakistani businessmen attach a lot of value to these facts that UK is one of the top five export markets in the world for Pakistan. With regard to major importing countries to Pakistan, UK takes the 15th position. And in terms of favourable balance of trade, UK stands at the fifth place. Irfan Qaiser Sheikh said that the presence of different multi-national companies from UK which are growing and doing well in Pakistan is indicative of the fact that there are ample opportunities and potential for UK investors for business in Pakistan.
LCCI hails cut in petrol prices: The Lahore Chamber of Commerce & Industry Saturday while welcoming the decrease in the POL prices has said that it would definitely ensure relief to the masses and help bring down the cost of doing business but at the same time to government should also take measures for provision of uninterrupted supply of electricity that is spoiling the entire business atmosphere.
In statement issued here, the LCCI Acting President Kashif Younis Meher and Vice President Saeeda Nazar said that after a long period, government has passed on the benefit of oil prices decrease in the international market to the users. They said that there was no second opinion about it that it would help bring down the inflation rate in the country. They said that agriculture sector was the engine of growth. The cut in petroleum prices would bring down the input cost of agriculture production as high speed diesel is being used in tractors, tub-wells, harvesters, thrashers and other agriculture machinery. They demanded of the government to announce cut in electricity tariff also as a major chunk of electricity was being generated through thermal resources.
Meanwhile, the LCCI office-bearers also demanded of the government to make a considerable cut in the markup rate and bring it to the single digit for the sake of revival of businesses, overcome low-growth scenario, encourage new investments and give a jumpstart to the sluggish economy. Kashif Younis Meher and Saeeda Nazar said that the availability of cheaper money to the business doing people is a must to bring down the cost of doing business in Pakistan and expedite the process of industrialization that would ultimately result in curtailing poverty, inflation and help in much-needed job creation. They said that Interest rate in the United States is 0.25 per cent, in UK 0.5 per cent, in Canada 1 per cent, in Australia 3.5 per cent, in Japan 0 per cent, in China 6.56 per cent, in India 8 per cent, in Sri Lanka 7.75 per cent and in Bangladesh 7.75 per cent.
They said that how Pakistani merchandise could get a respectable place in the international market in the presence of such a high mark up that neither has a parallel in the developed world nor in the region. They said that ongoing economic scenario shows that there is hardly any time left for economic managers of the country to help stop industrial closures and defaults therefore the people sitting at the helm of affairs in the government and the State Bank of Pakistan should understand well that a cut in interest rate would be a great favour to the economy.
