ISLAMABAD: The Islamabad Chamber of Commerce and Industry (ICCI) celebrated the 141st birthday of Father of the Nation, Quaid-e-Azam Muhammad Ali Jinnah with enthusiasm and national spirit. To mark the birth anniversary, a cake cutting ceremony was held and Quaid’s guiding principles of unity, faith and discipline were highlighted.
Speaking at the occasion, Sheikh Amir Waheed, President, Islamabad Chamber of Commerce and Industry called upon the rulers to take strong measures to follow and implement the economic vision of Quaid-e-Azam to make Pakistan a self-reliant, progressive and prosperous country worthy of a place of honor and dignity in the comity of nations.
He said at the birth of Pakistan, its opponents were predicting its short life as in their view, Pakistan would not be able to survive economically. However, at that crucial time, Quaid-e-Azam had motivated the economists and entrepreneurs to take active part in the economic development of Pakistan and make it a strong economy of the world. He said from the very beginning, Quaid-e-Azam had stressed upon the need of developing a strong industrial base side by side with its agriculture to reduce Pakistan’s dependence on outside world and to increase its resources.
He said Quaid-e-Azam had termed commerce and trade as the very life-blood of the nation and had advocated for maintaining high standards of business, integrity and practice in commerce and trade to make Pakistan a hallmark for standard and quality in the marketplaces of the world. He said the annual anniversary of Quaiid-e-Azam reminded the rulers that they should take tangible measures to implement his economic vision to make Pakistan a progressive and prosperous country. He said it was high time that the government should accord top priority to trade and industry, take business leaders on board to address the key issues of business community and promote public-private partnership models to accelerate the pace of economic growth of the country.
Muhammad Naveed, Senior Vice President and Nisra Mirza Vice President, Islamabad Chamber of Commerce and Industry said that Quaid-e-Azam had stressed upon the need of eradicating illiteracy and providing the best possible training to technicians, scientists, businessmen and other professionals to produce trained and professional manpower for speeding up economic growth. They urged that the government should pay heed to the guiding principles of Quaid-e-Azam and focus on establishing a strong network of vocational and technical training institutes across the country to produce trained and skilled manpower that would help in putting the country on the path of sustainable economic growth.
