LAHORE: The Lahore Chamber of Commerce and Industry (LCCI) and American Business Forum (ABF) on Monday decided to join hands to expedite efforts to attract more US investment in Pakistan.
The decision to this affect was taken at a meeting between the LCCI President Engineer Sohail Lashari and ABF President Rizwanullah Khan, Senior Vice President Afsar Mehmood, Vice President Mehmood Ahmad, General Secretary Umer K Sheikh, LCCI Executive Committee Members Zafar Mehmood, Mudassor Masood Ch and Talha Tayyab Butt also spoke on the occasion.
The LCCI and ABF would also constitute a join business delegation to the United States to have meetings with their American counterparts to convince them for more investment in new ventures in Pakistan.
The Lahore Chamber of Commerce and Industry and the American Business Forum would work in unison for the preparation and implementation of 10-year economic policy Framework to facilitate Foreign Direct Investment by initiating multi-level dialogue within and outside Pakistan.
Speaking on the occasion, the ABF president Rizwanullah Khan identified complex taxation procedures, multiple taxes, lack of awareness about the importance of Intellectual Property Rights (IPRs) and Environment issues as the main hurdles to foreign investment.
He said that the government would have to sit with the Chambers of Commerce and Industry and other leading private sector players to find out solution to these challenges.
Stressing the need for a regular contact between Lahore Chamber and the ABF, the LCCI President Engineer Sohail Lashari appointed LCCI Executive Committee Member Zafar Mehmood as Focal Person to interact with American Business Forum.
The LCCI President said that the continuity in policies are key to the progress and prosperity as repeated changes in policies had been hitting the economy hard for the last many years.
Engineer Sohail Lashari said that the Lahore Chamber of Commerce and Industry was utilizing all its resources to promote trade and industry. He said that the LCCI was soon starting video conferencing facility to ensure interaction with other leading chambers of commerce in the world.
He said that the LCCI Mediation Centre established by the International Finance Corporation, a private arm of the World Bank, was also facilitating business community in the wake of any dispute.
The LCCI President while citing the examples of Taiwan, said that the Taiwanese government was providing maximum facilities to high tech industry through free of cost provision of land in its industrial estates and the Pakistan government would have to adopt same methodology to get required and desired results on the economic front.
