LAHORE: A leading delegation of industrialists on Saturday had an important meeting with Advisor to Prime Minister on Finance Dr. Abdul Hafeez Sheikh in the presence of Advisor of Prime Minister on Commerce Abdul Razaq Dawood, State Minister for Revenue Hammad Azher and Governor Punjab Chaudhary Muhammad Sarwar.
LCCI President Almas Hyder was leading the delegation while Dr. Salman Shah, Dr. Khaqan Najeeb, Iftikhar Ali Malik, Shahid Hassan Sheikh, Farooq Iftikhar, Muhammad Ali Mian, Malik Tahir Javed, Nabeel Hashmi, Goher Ijaz, Farooq Naseem were prominent amongst the others. The delegation members spoke in detail about the challenges being faced by the trade, industry gave various suggestions aimed at improving the economy.
Dr. Abdul Hafeez Sheikh said that the proposals of all business community would be considered as they are backbone of the economy. He said that government is focusing on improving the ease of doing business in order to facilitate the business community and to attract foreign investment. He said that role of business community is highly important for economic stability of the country.
The delegation, led by the LCCI President Almas Hyder, was of the view that industry cannot be competitive globally unless it is competitive in its own country. Industry owns the local market which unfortunately is flooded with smuggled, under invoiced or imitation products. Industry is uncompetitive because heavy load of taxes, levis, advance and withholding taxes on raw materials and energy. They said that refunds are necessary to restore the trust in the tax collector. Income tax and sales tax refunds, for industry, importers and exporters should be paid at the earliest.
