LAHORE-Lahore Chamber of Commerce and Industry (LCCI) will take part in the economic policy making process, National Assembly Deputy Speaker Qasim Khan Suri assured this while speaking at the LCCI on Wednesday.
Qasim khan Suri said the business community is more than welcome to participate in the standing committees of the parliament related to the trade, finance and economy. The government will listen to the business community and will work hand in hand with them to further the business activities in the country. “The government has also ensured that the business activities must continue during the COVID-19, which is the sign of the commitment we have for the assistance of our businessmen”, he said. President LCCI Mian Tariq Misbah, Senior Vice President Nasir Hameed Khan, Vice President Tahir Manzoor Chaudhry, Former Vice President Mian Zahid Jawaid Ahmed, LCCI Executive Committee Members Shahid Nazeer, Fiaz Haider, Shireen Arshad Khan, Haji Asif Seher and Malik Riaz Iqbal were also present. Qasim Khan Suri said that the economy is imperative in the uplift of any country. “Sadly we don’t have a strong democratic system which supports and endures the constructive policies of the previous governments. We will make sure that the business friendly policies should continue”, he said. “In the past, we didn’t have ventilators and were even importing petty items like masks. Now we are not only producing masks and ventilators but also exporting these items”, he said, adding, the support and contribution of the business community to fight coronavirus enabled the government to control the disease.
He said that in recent years export to Afghanistan have been decreased substantially due to the unrest in the neighbour country. The present government is ready to work with any government in Afghanistan and is forming policies which will enable business community to export more freely. He said the low volume of formal trade with Iran is due to the sanctions imposed on the neighbouring country. “We have many a time requested Iranian envoy to Pakistan and their trade authorities to provide us information of how they are trading with other countries without the banking channels so that we could follow the same model for the trade expansion between two countries. But they have not responded to our calls despite our numerous efforts, ” said Qasim Khan Suri. He said that Pakistan would never recognize Israel despite all pressures. “We are an ideological state. We not only live with this ideology but will protect it”, added Qasim Khan Suri. Mian Tariq Misbah said that the LCCI understands that government is fully utilising all its possible resources to revive the economy and businesses in these crunch times and appreciates the efforts of the government in curtailing the current account deficit from 20 billion dollars to 3 billion dollars besides reducing the trade
deficit considerably.