FPCCI's performance criticized

The opposition group in FPCCI, the Businessmen Panel (BMP) has expressed dissatisfaction with performance of Federation of Pakistan Chambers of Commerce and Industry and said it is losing its identity in the public sector as well as in international bodies due to lack of a business plan.
BMP Vice Chairman, Sheikh Aslam and Secretary General (Punjab) Mian M Usman Zulfiqar in a joint statement said here on Sunday that FPCCI has been converted into public relations company, the federation is least interested to play its viable role for the formulation of government's economic policies; that's why we don't see Federation Chambers anywhere which is a matter of great concern for the business community of the country.
The leaders of the Businessmen Panel said since the start of 2018 the FPCCI has closed its Quetta Regional Office, similarly the Regional Office of Peshawar is facing acute shortage of staff and even no alternate arrangement for electricity has been made in time of load shedding. The Vice President FPCCI KPK doesn't even bother to come in its Regional Office Peshawar, so how they can solve the problems of KPK traders and industrialists.
On the other hand the Research and Development (R&D) department of the FPCCI lacks professional expertise; we don't see any research papers and any comparative study on any subject which is linked with the economy of Pakistan. If one talks about the budget proposals, they contended not a single recommendation of the FPCCI has been accepted by the government, yet the FPCCI does not fail to praise the government's yearly budget due to its vested interest. Is this the role of national chamber of any country; they questioned?
The BMP leaders regretted that there is no effective international desk in the FPCCI which could brief the Government about pros and cons of any bilateral trade agreement with a foreign country. As well as there is no Steering Committee of FPCCI to deliberate on major government economic policies of concern to Pakistani business and advise the Executive Committee of FPCCI on the issues to be taken up with the Government.
They demanded that there should be an institutional body comprising national Experts from different fields and past presidents of FPCCI to discuss major global and domestic trends and debate fresh ideas and perspectives on business and economy.
They also alleged that the FPCCI Secretary General Office is like a post office for the Patron In-Chief of the United Business Group and Former CEO TDAP. However during SM Muneer's tenure the TDAP lost its relevance badly, as it was not facilitating exports. They were of the opinion that the TDAP has failed to fulfill its mandate mainly because of wrong priorities and changing export patterns over the years.