KARACHI: President Karachi Chamber of Commerce & Industry (KCCI) Agha Shahab Ahmed Khan has invited Advisor to Prime Minister for Commerce & Textile Abdul Razak Dawood to visit KCCI so that they could get an opportunity to present their point of view about the controversial Trade Organizations Ordinance (TOO) 2013 and convince the government to revalidate TOO-2007, besides listening to PM Advisor’s plan of action on how to completely cleanse FPCCI from bogus trade bodies which, if done, would surely go in favor of the entire country.
In a letter sent to Advisor Razak Dawood dated October 11, 2019, President KCCI drew the attention of PM’s Advisor towards the controversial Trade Organizations Ordinance 2013 which provided enough space to the Qabza Group at FPCCI through fake and bogus trade bodies to stay in control and deprived the genuine representatives of the business & industrial community of their fundamental right of having some say in FPCCI’s affairs.
“We firmly believe that TOO-2013 has to be rescinded and replaced with TOO 2007 which must be implemented in letter and spirit in order to unshackle FPCCI from the clutches of Qabza Group”, he added.
In this regard, he recalled a meeting with PM’s Advisor in his office with KCCI’s delegation which was led by Chairman Businessmen Group & Former President KCCI Siraj Kassam Teli and Former President KCCI Junaid Esmail Makda who presented a detailed comparison of TOO-2007 with TOO 2013 to the Advisor so that he could better understand the serious loopholes in TOO-2013 and accordingly take steps to deal with this pressing issue.
Agha Shahab said that the Karachi Chamber struggled really hard to get Trade Organizations Ordinance 1961 abolished during Musharraf’s regime in 2007 when Humayun Akhtar Khan was the Commerce Minister. At that point in time, TOO-2007 was formulated which was endorsed by all Trade Associations, Chambers and even the FPCCI that resulted in eradicating almost all the fake/ bogus trade bodies whereas around 90 trade associations and 35 Chambers of Commerce were found legal when TOO-2007 was implemented.
“However, TOO-2007 was sabotaged in between 2007 to 2013 and it was abolished and replaced with TOO-2013 which once again provided bogus trade bodies an opportunity to get registered at FPCCI by paying a mere amount of three to four hundred thousand only. To deal with this serious issue, KCCI approached the then Commerce Minister Amin Fahim and Chairman of National Assembly’s Standing Committee on Commerce Khurram Dastgir Khan, who later on became the Commerce Minister during PML-N’s era, besides bringing this serious issue to Razak Dawood’s notice as well during his last visit to KCCI. Although assurances were given from time to time but not a single step has been taken so far to deal with this issue”, he added.
Agha Shahab also appreciated Razak Dawood for his robust passion and dedication to serve the business and industrial community in general and our beloved country in particular. “Indeed, you have taken several initiatives to boost Pakistan’s Export and enhance Pakistan’s trade ties with the friendly countries. Under your prudent supervision, the Commerce & Textile Ministry has successfully introduced E-Commerce Policy and is also working to formulate a five-year strategic trade policy framework, revision of free trade agreements and preferential trade agreements etc.”, he added.
