LAHORE: The All Pakistan Business Forum (APBF) announced on Tuesday to organise a daylong conference to promote soft image of Pakistan’s economy on national and international forums. The conference will be held on September 8 at the Pearl Continental Hotel, Lahore. In a briefing to journalists, APBF President Ibrahim Qureshi said the purpose of the conference, titled “Impact of Violent Extremism on Pakistan’s Economy and a Proposed Private Sector Solution”, would be to highlight the fact that Pakistan was a victim of terrorism. He said, “We will use the word violent extremism instead of terrorism as the appearance of the idea is always in the form of extremism and violence.” Pakistan’s economy has suffered losses amounting to approximately $107 billion owing to violent extremism, he said, adding that the economy had to bear most of the damage. He said the conference would be inaugurated by Punjab Governor Malik Muhammad Rafique Rajwana and would be divided into three sections. The first one would include four to five speakers who would be given fifteen minutes each to speak. “Speakers will include people belonging to the National Counter Terrorism Authority (NACTA), Counter-Terrorism Department (CTD) Lahore, private and public sector businesses and additional inspector general (AIG).” He further added that a panel of 10 experts would also hold a question and answer session with the attendees to share opinions and shed light on the matter at hand. “There would be no stage. Panel will sit amongst the attendants,” he said. The second section of the conference will be called ‘Traders and Marketers’ and will include APBF members and some non-members too. Bureaucrats have also been invited to speak at the occasion, he maintained. In the third and final section, people belonging to industry, government and APBF will try to formulate a 10-15 point resolution as a framework for future. This section will come up with pragmatic and rational solutions for prevention of losses and betterment of the businesses and economy. The APBF president said the businessmen were facing numerous issues resulting from violent extremism and a clear “response line” to the relevant authorities was necessary to be provided to them so they might know whom to immediately contact in case of emergency. Later, APBF Secretary General Maaz also informed the attendants that the Citizens-Police Liaison Committee chief had also given confirmation of his attendance and speech at the conference.