PESHAWAR: The Sarhad Chamber of Commerce and Industry (SCCI) and Sustainable Energy and Economic Development (SEED) Programme, a non-profitable organisation in collaboration with provincial government of Khyber Pakhtunkhwa have joined hands to improve the investment climate in the province.

The agreement was reached during a roundtable conference organised jointly by SCCI and Sustainable Energy and Economic Development (SEED) Programme, aimed at to improve the investment climate for Khyber Pakhtunkhwa Business Voice, here at the local hotel on Thursday.

Different stakeholders from the business, government and development community participated in the roundtable discussion.

The roundtable brought essential business voices to the forefront of this discussion while connecting them to Khyber Pakhtunkhwa government leadership and policymakers for a constructive dialogue.

In Khyber Pakhtunkhwa, structured and inclusive public-private dialogues are needed to identify bottlenecks, opportunities, and possible interventions to improve the business environment and promote women's entrepreneurship.

Speakers highlighted that the private sector plays a vital role in promoting economic growth, reforming the business climate, and strengthening inclusive policymaking.

They termed that dialogue is a key for enhancing business climate as a central driver of development, and this fact emphasizes the importance of inclusive dialogue for building a policy environment conducive to sustainable development.

Through KP Business Voice, SEED, in partnership with SCCI, is steering to strengthen Public-Private Dialogues between the KP business community and the KP government by articulating private sector problems, soliciting policy proposals and routing them to relevant government policymakers through different mechanisms like post/pre-budget assessment, business barometer survey and sector-specific roundtable and policy briefs.

Sherbaz Bilour, President Sarhad Chamber of Commerce and Industry (SCCI) said, "Through such dialogues, the transparency, effectiveness, and responsiveness of taxation, regulation, public investment and other public policies for the business community can be improved."

SCCI chief said the chamber works as a bridge between public sector and private sector entities. He added that it also serves as an advisory, regulatory, consultative and supportive body for the government and business institutions.

Rabail Riaz, President Women Chamber of Commerce and Industry, said, "We need to promote gender-sensitive investment climate in KP by integrating and mainstreaming gender analysis in the budget, policy and regulatory reviews on a strategic, systemic and sustainable basis; for the promotion of the women entrepreneurship." She added, "These dialogues can play a crucial role in supporting women's participation in economic activities."

Hasaan Khawar, SEED Team Leader, highlighted that "Dialogues like these provide an opportunity for KP businesses to articulate the issues and challenges faced by them, open and strengthen dialogue between the KP leadership and the business community, and create synergies between key stakeholders to achieve long-term sustainable growth in the province."

Copyright Business Recorder, 2021