LCCI, KPCCI to work for regional trade promotion

LAHORE: Lahore and Khyber Pakhtunkhwa Chambers of Commerce and Industry here Monday agreed to work jointly for the promotion of regional trade besides taking joint stand on all national issues being faced by the economy.

Both the Chambers also inked a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) to share sector-specific research with each other and develop joint mechanism for preparation of budget and taxation-related proposals.

The KPCCI office-bearers including President Dr Mohammad Yousaf Sarwar, SVP Malik Iftikhar Ahmad Awan and VP Muhammad Anees Ashraf met with LCCI President Farooq Iftikhar, SVP Irfan Iqbal Sheikh, VP Mian Abuzar Shad at the Lahore chamber.

During their meeting, they discussed the ongoing energy crisis, cumbersome taxation procedures, law and order situation, water scarcity, smuggling, trade ordinance and Export Development Fund (EDF).

The LCCI would facilitate the KPCCI on trade with India while Khyber Pakhtunkhawa Chamber would give necessary guidelines on trade with Afghanistan.

The President KPCCI Dr Mohammad Yousaf Sarwar invited attention of the LCCI Executive Committee towards joint ventures in agriculture, livestock and mineral and mines sectors, as the KPK had a very huge potential in these sectors. He said that Peshawar is a gateway to Central Asian States and Afghanistan and any investment made in that part of the country was bound to get a good response, therefore, the businessmen from Punjab should avail this opportunity.

He agreed with the LCCI President that smuggling was causing a huge loss to the trade and industry and the government would have to rationalize rate of Sales Tax on all smuggling prone items.

On this occasion, Farooq Iftikhar said that Lahore Chamber had recently established an International Mediation Centre in collaboration with International Finance Corporation (IFC), the private arm of the World Bank. He said that the KPCCI could untilze the facility for its members, adding that collective efforts were needed to overcome multiple challenges that had pushed the country to the wall.

He also urged the KPCCI Executive Committee to get necessary funding from the Export Development Fund for the establishment of private sector-run business support organization as huge funding was available with the EDF.

He also gave a detailed briefing to the delegation on Lahore Chamber's stance on trade with India. He said that the LCCI wanted protection to the local industry and early removal of Non-Tariff Barriers (NTBs) by India.