Staff Report
ISLAMABAD: A grand ceremony of handing over of presidency of SAARC Chamber of Commerce and Industry (CCI) to Pakistan from Sri Lanka, which was earlier scheduled to be held in the last week of March in Islamabad has been postponed sine die due to pandemic of coronavirus.
The upcoming President of SAARC CCI is Iftikhar Ali Malik, a veteran trade leader in Pakistan who has been associated with this chamber since 1990 and remained its vice president for eight consecutive terms and currently holding the position of senior vice president. The outgoing president of SAARC CCI is Ruwan Edirisinghe who is hailing from Sri Lanka.
Iftikhar Ali Malik talking a delegation of traders here Thursday said that this would be great honour for Pakistan to take presidency of SAARC CCI, but due to unusual circumstances due to pandemic of coronavirus, the ceremony of handing over presidency to Pakistan should be postponed,’ says a press release issued here on Thursday.
He said the threat of a global coronavirus pandemic was ‘very real’ as the contagion continued its rapid spread around the world and it is a thing of relief for the people of this region that South Asian countries have pledged to collaborate in stemming the spread of coronavirus, which has claimed thousands of lives globally. He also called for formulating a six-month strategy to address the long-term economic as well as social impacts besides the health concerns caused by the pandemic. He said South Asia has so far been relatively less affected by COVID-19 compared to Europe or East Asia.
