Businessmen call for completing Islamabad SEZ on time

ICCI stresses more focus should be on promoting industrialisation

ISLAMABAD: The government should take measures to ensure timely creation of the Special Economic Zone (SEZ) under the China-Pakistan Economic Corridor (CPEC) in the federal capital as it would boost industrial activities in the region, said Islamabad Chamber of Commerce and Industry (ICCI) President Sheikh Amir Waheed.

Speaking in a meeting with Saarc Chamber of Commerce and Industry Vice-president Iftikhar Ali Malik, he said following completion of the Early Harvest Programme, CPEC had now entered the phase of long-term plan, hence more focus should be on industrial cooperation to promote industrialisation in the country.

Waheed was of the view that the domestic industry should get better opportunities in the SEZs in the second phase. He emphasised that modernisation of the domestic industry should be the main component of the long-term plan in order to transform Pakistan into an industrialised economy on a par with the developed countries.

Speaking on the occasion, Malik assured businessmen that he would convey the chamber’s demand for the establishment of an SEZ in Islamabad to the relevant authorities. He said the long-term plan had created a lot of positives for the country and would benefit all important sectors of the economy.

Apart from industrial cooperation, the long-term plan would also help modernise Pakistan’s agriculture sector as new agro-based technologies, seeds and irrigation mechanism would be introduced, he added.

He stressed that enterprises from China and Pakistan should be given enhanced role in the long-term plan so that joint ventures and partnerships between private sectors of the two countries could be forged for mutual economic benefits. 

Published in The Express Tribune, February 6^th, 2018.

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