LAHORE: Pakistan can neither bear the brunt of political instability nor afford politics of agitation, violence, protest and confrontation at this crucial juncture of time in the wake of Covid-19.
President SAARC Chamber Iftikhar Ali Malik stated this while addressing a select gathering of traders’ representatives from city markets in connection with ongoing election campaign of the Lahore Chamber of Commerce and Industry here on Tuesday. He said that what we need is political stability which is prerequisite for sustained economic growth to cope with the multiple challenges in Pakistan.
He said time has changed now as the influential nations are paying more attention to financial warfare to continue their dominance. These countries are successfully using their weapons of economic destruction to weaken economics of poor nations to achieve their unholy designs while Pakistan’s economy is not strong enough to withstand economic terrorism.
He said it is indeed important to increase our exports and for that purpose we need to reduce our cost of doing business so that our products can remain competitive in the world markets. He further said trade facilitation is the key to promote industries and we need to remove all the obstacles and create the culture of trade facilitation. “Our country has tremendous potential as we have enormous talent. What we need is the consistency in the government policies and a clear roadmap to move forward,” he added.
He was of the view that all the sectors including the industrial sector should discharge their national obligations and play their role in strengthening the economy while the government should introduce reforms and control the smuggling of raw material and finished goods.
He also urged the government to conduct market research to find out new destinations for the Pakistani products which are best in the world as far as quality and price is concerned. He said that Pakistani missions abroad should be duty bound to introduce Pakistani products to the foreign buyers and also ensure dissemination of trade related information so that Pakistan entrepreneurs could avail trade opportunities to the maximum.
Iftikhar Malik said that PIAF-Founder alliance in Lahore Chamber has been still strong enough for the last 18 years and continue its mission to protect the interests of the business community after sweeping election on Sept 25 and Sept 26 next while remaining committed to the cause of development of the country.
Copyright Business Recorder, 2020
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