LAHORE: As many as 44 representatives of 25 countries Tuesday visited the Lahore Chamber of Commerce & Industry (LCCI) and had interactive session with the private sector.
The LCCI President Abdul Basit, Vice President Muhammad Nasir Hameed Khan and head of the delegation Brigadier Hammad spoke on the occasion while former President Sohail Lashari, Executive Committee Members Mian Zahid Jawaid, Tahir Manzoor Chaudhry, Shahid Nazeer, Moazzam Rasheed, Javed Iqbal Siddiqui and former Executive Committee Member Kamal Mahmood Amjad Mian were also present in the meeting.
China-Pakistan Economic Corridor (CPEC), Kalabagh Dam, regional trade, energy, women empowerment, orange train and bilateral trade with African region were the topics that were came under discussion.
The LCCI President Abdul Basit said that China-Pakistan Economic Corridor (CPEC) is a game changer project for Pakistan and its generations. CPEC is part of One Belt One Road plan to establish close land and maritime links among 60 plus countries across Asia and Europe. Its motivating force is prosperity and the partner countries are focusing on investment in our region. Once it is complete, it is estimated that the volume of intra-trade among these countries would reach dollar 2.5 trillion.
He said that Gwadar Port is going to play the pivotal role in development of Western region of China. The infrastructure development currently going on in Pakistan in major areas like power sector, roads and railways network etc. has kick started the process of economic recovery. These projects will accelerate investment, trade and economic growth in Pakistan, and help to stabilize the country.
“We believe that greater success cannot be achieved without the fullest participation of the private sectors from both countries especially engaging small and medium-sized enterprises. We want our government to ensure that Pakistani companies should be given more opportunities to interact closely with Chinese companies so that there should be win-win situation for everyone”, Abdul Basit concluded.
Abdul Basit said that “We are known as resilient nation and we have learnt the art of surviving in any situation. We have the right location for trade and investment. We have a rich and diverse economic base. Our natural resource profile is unique and covers coal to gold. Our economic activities range from agriculture to aircraft manufacturing. We have one of the largest and young workforces in the world. Some experts predict that in next 20 years, Pakistan will fall among the trillion dollar economies.”
He said that Pakistan is located in close proximity to high growth potential economies in the Arabian Gulf and Central Asian Republics. With the help of right policies, Pakistan can become a regional trade and energy corridor. This offers unique growth opportunities to Pakistan.
The LCCI Vice President Muhammad Nasir Hameed Khan said that growing gap between revenue and expenditure has increased the vulnerability of fiscal framework, requiring the federal and provincial governments to tighten belt with a view to putting economy on track. He said that the Lahore Chamber of Commerce and Industry was making all out efforts to give boost to business and economic activities in the country. To achieve the goal, it is holding seminars and inviting foreign delegations to Pakistan.
Head of the delegation Brigadier Hammad spoke about the importance of the private sector for the economic turnaround of the country while the visiting diplomats also asked a number of question ranging from economic situation of the country to the LCCI role.
