BoI chairman resigns

10 Mar, 2020

The BoI chairman has also vacated his residence in the Minister's Enclave, the sources maintained. Zubair was appointed in July 2019 after the resignation of Haroon Sharif as the BoI chairman on May 23, 2019. He is the second chairman BoI to quit during the tenure of the Pakistan Tahreek-e-Insaaf (PTI) government.

Sources said he developed differences with Adviser to Prime Minister of Pakistan for Commerce, Industry and Investment Abdul Razzaq Dawood.

Sources maintained that the advisor was not happy with BoI's failure to take him into confidence over its incentives to do away with requirement of 74 licenses for starting business activities to facilitate the small businesses under the Pakistan Regulatory Modernization Initiative (PRMI).

Some officials on conditions of anonymity said the prime minister was satisfied with his performance. On March 4, 2020, it was the first time that Prime Minister Imran Khan himself chaired the meetings of Board of Approval of BoIs and approved establishment of 10 special economic zones (SEZs) in the four provinces.

Five of the 10 SEZs will be established in Punjab (Bhalwal, Bahawalpur, Rahim Yar Khan, Vehari and Allama Iqbal SEZ), two each in Sindh (Naushahro Feroze and Bhulari) and Balochistan (Bostan and Hub), and one in Khyber-Pahtunkhwa (Rashakai).

Tuesday (today), BoI is also organizing a dialogue on industrial cooperation under the CPEC and the SEZ framework. The event will be co-chaired by Abdul Razzaq Dawood and Yeo Jing, ambassador of China. Zubair Gillani could not be reached for his comments.

Copyright Business Recorder, 2020

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