LAHORE - Lahore and Faisalabad Chambers of Commerce and Industry Friday agreed to work jointly for the cause of Kalabagh Dam, promotion of regional trade, exploration of non-traditional global destinations and for the activation of Pakistan’s FTAs/PTAs with other countries.
The decision was made at a meeting between the two Chambers here at the LCCI. LCCI President Engineer Sohail Lashari and FCCI President Engineer Sohail Bin Rashid along with their respective Executive Members discussed a number of other issues that need to be focused to put the economy back on rails at a faster pace.
Both the Chambers also agreed to share their respective latest research reports for the common good of the business community and decided form a Joint Working Group to further strengthen cooperation in the field of research and development.
The Joint Working Group would be comprised Executive Committee Members and senior R&D staff of the two chambers and would be independent of leadership change at the chambers as a result of their annual elections, thus ensuring continuity.
A Joint Committee on Kalabagh Dam was also constituted. The Committee would develop a strategy in consultation with other chambers of the country to pave way for the early construction of the dam.
There was a consensus among the participants of the meeting that government should focus on promotion of regional trade that has the potential to bring progress and prosperity to this part of the world.
The FCCI President Sohail Bin Rashid called for a two-pronged strategy to enhance trade volume among SAARC countries that is presently negligible when compared with other regional blocks in the world including European Union.
Speaking on the occasion, the LCCI President Engineer Sohail Lashari said that the strength of the private sector lies in unity therefore they should extend full support to each other on all economic issues and challenges.
He said that the Lahore Chamber of Commerce and Industry had already taken a number of steps to educate its members on GSP Plus to enable them to get maximum benefit out of this great opportunity.
He said that very recently the Lahore Chamber of Commerce in collaboration with Trade Development Authority of Pakistan arranged a seminar wherein the members were given necessary guidance to work with their counterparts in European Economies.
Briefing about the LCCI Mediation Center, the LCCI President said that the Mediation Center was established with active collaboration of IFC which was inaugurated in August 2012. It is only the beginning of systematic efforts needed for making consistent improvement in investment climate in the country. The business community of surrounding cities of Lahore can benefit from it in case they get into any commercial dispute either locally, nationally or internationally.