Minister assures cooperation for Industrial Zone, Expo Centre

By Asad Cheema

ISLAMABAD: Minister for Commerce Syed Naveed Qamar Friday said that the role of the business community was very important in steering the economy out of current crisis and the government would take all possible measures for ease of doing business to facilitate them in business development.
He lauded the efforts of Islamabad Chamber of Commerce and Industry (ICCI) for the establishment of a new Industrial Zone and construction of an Expo Centre in the Capital and assured that he would cooperate for the materialization of these projects as they were very important to boost industrialization and improve trade and exports of the country.
He said this while talking to the business community during his visit to the ICCI, where he also inaugurated a new Syed Naveed Qamar Hall in the premises of the Chamber House.
Naveed Qamar welcomed the ICCI’s plan for launching an FM Radio for the business community to educate them on business related matters including trade laws, regulations, importance of exports and assured that he would play a role to facilitate them in this project.
Speaking on the occasion, Ahsan Zafar Bakhtawari, President ICCI briefed the minister about the importance of a new industrial zone in the region as the current industrial estates in the Capital have reached the point of saturation and the potential investors are facing problems in setting up new industries in the region.
He urged the government to cooperate with ICCI in identifying and acquisition of land to complete this vital project as soon as possible. He said that a great boost in exports was the best option to bring the country out of the current economic crisis and said that CDA had agreed to cooperate with ICCI for the construction of a state-of-the-art Expo Centre in the Capital on the pattern of Expo Centers in Lahore and Karachi to introduce exportable products of Pakistan.
He said that the support of the government would help the ICCI in early completion of this important project. He also shared ICCI’s plan for the launch of an FM Radio for the business community and hoped that the government would facilitate the Chamber in this regard.