ISLAMABAD - Khyber Pakhtunkhwa Governor Zafar Iqbal Jhagra on Monday assured the business community of his full cooperation for resolving the key issues of local trade and industry.

He made these remarks during his visit to Islamabad Chamber of Commerce and Industry. He said Chamber should send a document of issues in writing so that he could take up them with the relevant government departments. He said CPEC has created plenty of business and investment opportunities in KP and urged the local investors to take benefit of these opportunities by investing in KP.

Talking about developmental works in FATA, he said 12 small dams were being constructed apart from many solar power projects to provide electricity to people. He said Pakistan was endowed with plenty of natural resources that were required to be exploited in the best interest of the country. He said government could not resolve all problems and communities should play more effective role in this regard. He said majority of FATA people were in favor of merging with KP and hoped that this process would be completed soon. He said government should allow tax free incentives for a certain period to local and foreign investors for investing in Industrial Zones under CPEC so that country could attract more investment and create more jobs for youth. 

Speaking at the occasion, Khalid Iqbal Malik, President Islamabad Chamber of Commerce and Industry, said that business community was the backbone of the economy, but was facing multiple problems and stressed that Iqbal Zafar Jhagra, Governor KP should take up the highlighted issues with the federal government. He said 90 percent issues of local trade and industry were related to CDA and many meetings were held with civic body high-ups with no tangible positive results.

He urged that government should issue instructions to CDA to resolve business community issues in consultation with ICCI. He said drastic reforms were needed in the prevailing taxation system to promote tax culture and improve tax revenue.

He said that government had announced an export promotion package of Rs.180 billion for textile sector, but only Rs.4 billion were allocated so far due to which the textile industry was facing multiple problems and about 150 textiles units had closed in the country. He said average 30-35% working capital of exporters was stuck up in refunds with FBR due to which exports have come down from $25 billion to $20 billion during the last 4 years. He stressed that government should such issues on priority for revival of textile industry and exports.