KARACHI: An 11-member delegation of 16th Senior Management Course of National Management College Lahore led by Director (NMC) Hamid Hameed Waris visited the Karachi Chamber of Commerce and Industry (KCCI) on an Inland Study Tour.
During its visit, the NMC delegation met KCCI President, Iftikhar Ahmed Vohra, Senior Vice President KCCI, Mohammad Ibrahim Kasumbi, Vice President KCCI, Agha Shahab Ahmed Khan and Managing Committee members in order to seek their opinion about the problems being faced by the business community of Karachi and the role of Karachi Chamber in dealing with various challenges.
The NMC delegation comprised of Khalid Mahmud Sheikh, Malik Muhammad Shaukat Feroze, Mahmood Javed Bhatti, Nauman Aslam, Tariq Mahmood, Muhammad Naeem, Dr Muhammad Nasir Khan Ghauri, Syed Javed Iqbal Bokhari, Muhammad Khalid Zauq, Ms Sharaf Jehan Qasmi and Bilal Khan Pasha. The course participants were from various occupational groups and services like Pakistan Administrative Service, Foreign Service, information, customs, Inland Revenue, audit and accounts, police, railways, postal, secretariat and provincial services.
President KCCI, Iftikhar Ahmed Vohra, while briefing the delegation about the overall functioning of Karachi Chamber, informed that the Karachi Chamber has been actively taking up various issues being faced by the businessmen and industrialists with authorities concerned in the provincial and federal governments.
He said, “Strengthening relations with friendly countries and promoting bilateral trade have always been the top agenda of the chamber. In order to achieve that goal, we are continuously engaged with representatives of a number of countries in Asia Pacific, Western and Eastern Europe, Central and South Asia, North and South America.”
President KCCI said that although the business community of Karachi faces numerous issues pertaining to government policies but the most serious issue was the rising lawlessness which has resulted in limiting the industrial activities and caused substantial flight of capital from the city nowadays.
“We, being the leading voice of business community of Karachi, have been vocally raising our voice against the rising lawlessness in Karachi at various platforms so that the decision makers and heads of Law Enforcing Agencies could devise an effective strategy to deal with this menace which has made doing business in Karachi almost impossible”, he added.
He urged the government that in order to ensure economic prosperity for the entire country, the government must ensure a safe and secure business atmosphere all over Karachi which solely contributes a major chunk of revenue to the national exchequer. He added that safe and secure business environment in Karachi was a must as majority of the industrial and trading activities were being carried out from this city whereas Pakistan’s foreign trade through ports of Karachi also depends on security situation.
In the end, Iftikhar Vohra requested the visiting delegates to highlight the grievances being suffered by every Karachiite due to rising lawlessness in their reports so that this pressing issue could be brought to the notice of decision makers in Islamabad.
The participants of NMC course raised various queries pertaining to doing business in Karachi, role of KCCI, law and order situation, and how business community of Karachi will react if Pakistan grants MFN status to India, which were wisely responded by the office bearers.
