ISLAMABAD: The participants of the Lahore Chamber of Commerce and Industry (LCCI) on the theme of "Economic Cooperation among the private sector of the OIC Members States" recommended and called upon the Islamic Chamber of Commerce for exploring the investment opportunities in Pakistan's Energy, Agriculture, Livestock, Infrastructure and other sectors of the economy.
LCCI organized a one day Conference on April 14 at Bhurban in coordination with the Ministry of Foreign Affairs.
The theme of the conference was "Free and direct trade and establishment of OIC common market".
The Conference was attended by about 80 Accredited Ambassadors/ High Commissioner Conference of OIC Members and Observers/states in Islamabad, representatives of the relevant ministries and businessmen from various sectors chamber represented by the business community.
The conference at the conclusion of the conference adopted the following recommendations:-
The OIC conference of Lahore Chamber of Commerce and Industry stressed the role of private sector in the economic and trade promotion plan and to involve them in various endeavors made by the OIC member governments to promote trade and investment among the OIC member states.
The Conference encouraged the OIC member states to ratify and made operational the Preferential Trade Agreements (PTAs), Free Trade Agreements (FTAs) and to facilitate the intra-OlC trade to incrementally raise the level of cooperation leading to the establishment of OIC common market.
The LCCI conference urged the relevant Ministry of the Government to propose to COMCEC to jointly carryout the research project of the Lahore Chamber and also request to the Islamic Development Bank to support this activity.
The Chamber's conference also encouraged all the representative Chambers of OIC member states to create electronic data on the trade and investment policies, the tariff structure on their website and to share it with Chambers of Commerce and Industry in Pakistan in electronic as well as printed form.
It further recommended to encourage the OIC Member Governments to consider facilitating travel within the OIC countries by introducing OIC multiple entry business visa for a period of five years on the recommendations of respective Chambers.
The Chambers conference requested to Ministry of Foreign Affairs to purpose OIC business visa during the next CFM meeting.
It also requested the OIC Missions in Islamabad to introduce a fast track visa issuance mechanism to facilitate travel of business community to their countries.
The LCCI Conference supported the promotion of small and medium enterprises (SMEs) in the OIC member states as an important segment of the economy for the development of trade.
It also recommended to encourage the Islamic Development Bank to support the private sector projects which could lead to value addition for export oriented production.
The Chamber also encouraged the Islamic Corporation for the Development of Private Sector ICIEC and ITFC for the simplification of their procedures for providing the lines of credit and finance to the domestic banks of the OIC member states for the private sector projects.
The LCCI conference further urged the Islamic Development Bank to initiate steps for the capacity building and economic empowerment of the women for encouraging their participation in establishing their own businesses.
The Chamber also called upon the Islamic Chamber of Commerce to facilitate exchange of expertise in various sectors to serve the common interest and development of industry and trade among OIC member states.
The LCCI conference also urged early ratification and bringing into operation the TPS-OIC (PRETAS) covering tariff and para-tariff preference for the OIC member states.
It also recommended and called upon the Islamic Chamber of Commerce for exploring the investment opportunities in Pakistan's Energy, Agriculture, Livestock, Infrastructure and other sectors of the economy.
The OIC Ambassadors in their statements appreciated the endeavors made by the Lahore Chamber of Commerce and Industry for organizing the Conference and for providing useful information on the business opportunities in various sectors in Pakistan and undertook to communicate the recommendations of the Chamber to their respective Governments and trade bodies in the public and private sectors.