By Asad Cheema
ISLAMABAD: Federal Minister for Inter Provincial Coordination Division, Dr. Fehmida Mirza has said the sports goods industry has huge potential to grow and contribute more effectively towards the economy, therefore, the government was considering to organize a Sports Goods Expo in collaboration with Islamabad and Sialkot Chambers of Commerce and Industry to promote the trade and exports of sports products.
She said this during a meeting with a delegation of Islamabad Chamber of Commerce & Industry (ICCI) led by Muhammad Shakeel Munir President that called on him on Friday. Mian Akram Farid Chairman Founder Group, Jamshaid Akhtar Sheikh Senior Vice President and Faheem Khan Vice President ICCI were in the delegation. Col. (Retd) Muhammad Asif Zaman Director General Pakistan Sports Board, Arshad Nadeem Athlete who reached the final of men’s javelin and Weightlifter Talha Talib who finished 5th in the Tokyo Olympics 2021 were also present at the occasion. Dr. Fehmida Mirza said that the government was in the process of developing an elite panel of athletes as a ready crop for sports promotion and stressed that the business community should extend financial support to them from its CSR funds so that they could participate in international events and bring more laurels to the country.
She seconded the proposal of ICCI delegation for introducing a fixed tax regime for the trading community to improve tax revenue of the country. She assured the ICCI delegation that she would take up the highlighted issues of the business community with relevant authorities for redress. Speaking at the occasion, President ICCI Muhammad Shakeel Munir said that Pakistan’s sports goods exports were reportedly around USD 241 million during July-May 2020-21, however, he said that the global sporting goods market was over USD 48 billion and Pakistan have good potential to capture better share in it with better focus on sports industry. He appreciated the initiative of the government for organizing a Sports Goods Expo, which was the right move to promote the sports industry.
He assured that ICCI would cooperate in making the Sports Goods Expo successful and suggested that such expos should be organized in foreign countries to introduce our sports products to international buyers.
