Addressing the officers, Muhammad Sarfraz, President, Multan Chamber of Commerce and Industry (MCCI) said ," We are groping in dark and CPEC is still a mystery for te business community of South Punjab because no one like to take us into confidence on this project which is called a game changer," He said that China must shift technology to Pakistan and must be trained our Labour to bring an industrial as well as agricultural revolution in the country. Expressing concerns,Muhammad Sarfraz said that Pakistan appears to be getting the short end of the stick in Free-Trade Agreements (FTA) struck up with Beijing as part of the China-Pakistan Economic Corridor (CPEC) project. He said Pakistan's value-added exports have not benefited under the FTA agreements and there are concerns regarding the promotion of local industry.He voiced concerns that information regarding the project was being withheld and local as well as foreign investors were not being taken into confidence.
He said that the business community had sought inclusion in the formulation of agreements with China. However, they were not accommodated, he regretted.He said that equal opportunities of doing business, uniform concessions, utility tariff and other facilities be provided to local industrialists.According to some estimates, about 85 million jobs will be relocated from China following the relocation of industries to countries falling on the route of One-Belt, One-Road initiative.He was of the view that Government should accommodate local engineers, skilled labour and joint venture be introduce for the survival of local investors.He said that civil service was one of the agents of development in any country and civil officers should fully cooperate with private sector in efforts aimed at economic revival of the country. He said civil officers should play facilitative role in resolving issues of business community so that private sector could grow up to its real potential. He said public-private partnership was the best approach to take the country forward on the road of sustainable economic development and civil officers should partner with private sector in steering the country out of current challenges.
Muhammad Farooq,Secretary, National Institute of Management, Lahore said that the purpose of bringing trainee officers to Multan Chamber of Commerce and Industry was to sensitize them about the views and issues of business community so that when trainee officers go back to their parent departments, they could facilitate private sector with better understanding of its key role in economic development and problems being faced by the business community.He highlighted the role of NIM Lahore in providing quality trainings to public sector officers and said that since its inception in Lahore has so far conducted a number of advanced and numerous short management courses.
Tariq Khan, an executive member briefed them about the Mango of South Punjab and problems confronted by the exporters in preserving ,packaging ,transporation of this perishable commodity. Mian Rashid Iqbal portrayed the grim situation of manufacturing sector and said that Government should impose heavy duty and taxes on the imported goods for the survival of local industry.. Khawaja Muhammad Usman said that Government policfies were main hurdles in boosting agricultural production, increasing exports because we are not able to compete even Bangladesh where power tariff and utility charges were nominal while cheapest Labour was available. Sheikh Muhammad Amjad Vice President of MCCI also took part in the discussion and hoped that they would perform their duties upto the satisfaction of the Nation. Khurram Javed Butt Secretary General of Multan Chamber also spoke. At the end questions and answers session was held and both sides asked questions and offered good suggestions to streamline matters.
