RAWALPINDI: The Rawalpindi Chamber of Commerce and Industry (RCCI) President Zahid Latif Khan hosted a dinner in honour of the ambassadors, high commissioners and commercial counselors here at a local hotel, Islamabad.
More than 60 ambassadors of various countries including Germany, Afghanistan, Iran, Belarus, Poland, Argentine, Brazil, Spain, Somalia, and high commissioner of Srilanka, Bangladesh, deputy head of foreign missions and commercial counselors attended the dinner. Senior vice president Muhammad Nasir Mirza, Vice President Khalid Farooq Qazi, group leaders, Sohail Altaf, SM Naseem, former presidents, members of the executive committee and a large number of traders were also present in the event.
Addressing the ceremony, RCCI President Zahid Latif Khan in his welcome address thanked the dignities and traders for overwhelming gathering. In a brief speech he highlighted the key initiatives taken by RCCI to promote trade in the region and improving the networking among the traders’ community. An update on RCCI’s past, current and upcoming events was also given to the participants. He also highlighted Chamber’s performance and efforts to enhance Pakistan’s exports and strengthen the national economy, including arranging business conferences in UK, Qatar.
While referring to the empowerment of women, RCCI chief said that we recently successfully organized All Pakistan Women Chamber Presidents Conference where more than 17 Presidents of Women Chambers from all over Pakistan attended the two days summit. The main purpose of this initiative was to provide women a platform to excel in the field of entrepreneurship, improve networking and consultation.
Group Leader and former president Sohail Altaf in his address said RCCI has been playing an active role to act as bridge between the business community and the concerned quarters. He also urged diplomats to portray the positive image of Pakistan in their respective countries. Sohail Altaf while referring to the recent event at Paris, Financial Action and task Force (FATF) latest action, expressed hope that diplomats will play their due role in averting any negative action under FATF against Pakistan. Pakistan, country with 200 million population offered promising business opportunities for foreign investors and using this platform we urged government to increase more benefits and incentives for foreign Direct Investment. CPEC now has become a reality on the ground, we would like to have your countries an active part of this mega project through joint ventures, he added.
He said business community suffered a lot in post 9/11 events and our economy faced a big blow due to the terrorist activities in the country. With collective approach government succeeded in narrowing terror incidents and now world has acknowledged that Pakistan has improved its security situation.
