KARACHI: Chairman Businessmen Group (BMG) and Former President of the Karachi Chamber of Commerce & Industry (KCCI), Siraj Kassam Teli has announced that preparations were in full swing for staging 15th My Karachi – Oasis of Harmony Exhibition 2018 in a vivid and lively manner, which will start on 20th April 2018 and conclude on 22nd April 2018 at Karachi Expo Center.
Addressing a press conference at KCCI Auditorium on Friday, BMG Chairman appreciated the overwhelming support by the media extended to the Businessmen Group since its inception in 1998 and also to My Karachi Exhibition since 2004 which has resulted in making this mega event an icon and identity for not just Karachi Chamber and the Businessmen Group but also for all the Karachiites.
“The success of My Karachi exhibition can mainly be attributed to the non-stop support by the media since 2004 who carry out numerous activities at the exhibition which help a lot in effectively promoting this event”, he added.
Vice Chairman BMG Zubair Motiwala, President KCCI Muffasar Atta Malik, Senior Vice President KCCI Abdul Basit Abdul Razzak, Vice President KCCI Rehan Hanif, Chairman of Special Committee for My Karachi Muhammad Idrees, Former Presidents KCCI Haroon Agar, Abdullah Zaki, Iftikhar Ahmed Vohra and Shamim Ahmed Firpo and along with KCCI Managing Committee members were also present on the occasion.
Chairman BMG further said, “My Karachi title was particularly chosen for this exhibition as we, the business and industrial community, strongly felt that we have to own this city.” The success of My Karachi title can be gauged from the fact that many people have also started numerous events with a similar title of My Karachi, which was initially introduced by Karachi Chamber in 2004. “We are not opposing them for imitating our title but we warmly welcome all such events because all these events are being held to promote the soft and positive image of Karachi”, he added.
Explaining the reasons behind choosing the theme ‘Oasis of Harmony’ for My Karachi Exhibition, Siraj Teli stated that this theme depicts the diverse, multi-cultural and multi-ethnic population who speak different languages but live in complete harmony across Karachi. The theme also represents the entire business and industrial community of Karachi, starting from a small shopkeeper to leading industrialists, he added.
Siraj Kassam Teli pointed out that Karachi Chamber has been constantly staging My Karachi Exhibition since 2004 when Karachi city was suffering badly due to terrorists’ activities and the law and order situation of Karachi was not so good. Moreover, the foreign media was wrongly portraying any law and order incident occurring in any particular area in such a manner that it gave a negative impression about the entire city. “To rectify this serious issue, we decided to initiate My Karachi Exhibition and ensured that the business and industrial community, all diplomats, foreign companies and the Karachiites densely participate in this event. With the passage of time, this exhibition has succeeded in gaining nationwide and international recognition as many countries around the world have also been regularly participating in this event.”
“Despite law and order disruptions on many occasions from time to time, we kept organizing My Karachi Exhibition at any cost which has expanded from just three halls in 2004 to all six halls of the Expo Center where more than one million people visit during all three days of the exhibition. Every year, My Karachi keeps growing and improving thanks to the untiring efforts being made by Office Bearers from time to time who try their best to perform better as compared to previous office bearers”, he said, adding that today law and order situation was 90 percent better than what it had been prior to 2013.
