Daily Times

KARACHI: Pakistan Business & Economic Summit convened place at a local hotel in Karachi. Nutshell Forum and CORPORATE PAKISTAN GROUP hosted this day long summit in association with Overseas Investors Chamber of Commerce & Industry (OICCI) and Pakistan Business Council (PBC). Summit is supported by Ministry for Water & Power; Board of Investment; Privatisation Commission of Pakistan and Pakistan Telecommunication Authority.

Minister for state and chairman privatization commission Mohammad Zubair and Spokesman of Prime Minister, Mussadiq Malik expressed their views on various issues during this conference. Mohammad Zubair, while speaking to the participants of Summit said “Pakistan’s economy was facing uncertain situation in 2013. Government worked day and night in its first three years to revive country’s economy and our hard work has put the economy on the path of prosperity. Pakistan Stock exchange is now the best stock exchange of region and its rise is a prove of governments successful economic policies.”

Mussadiq Malik said that CPEC is a revolutionary project under which new power plants will be set up and new employment opportunities will be created. Heavy investment will change the fortunes of Gwadar and Balochistan. Thar will also reap benefits of various projects. New Power plants will be established in Sindh which will solve electricity problems of province.

Senator Haroon Akhtar Khan, Minister of State & Special Assistant to the Prime Minister on Revenue said that “Business community is responding positively to government’s policies pertaining to taxes. Increase in number of tax payers is the evidence of our successful policies. We are in process of implementing new polices to bring more improvement in country’s economy.

Expressing his views at the inaugural session of Pakistan Business & Economic Summit, Muhammad Azfar Ahsan, Founding CEO Nutshell Forum said “Think tanks working in various countries are playing effective role in policy research and analysis that provide systematic analysis to enable them make informed and quality decisions about domestic and international policy related issues. Role of Think tanks in Pakistan is very limited. From this platform of Nutshell Forum and CORPORATE PAKISTAN GROUP, we want to highlight the importance of think tanks in Pakistan. I also want to elaborate that during this day long Pakistan Business & Economic Summit, we will carry out in depth discussion on various issues pertaining to Investment Agenda & Economic Climate; Tax Reforms & Policies; Digital Future and Pakistan’s Energy Needs & Infrastructure Challenges. This summit is designed for CEOs; business leaders; government officials and C-suite level management executives.”

Prominent personalities from numerous national and multinational spoke during this conference and apprise the participants about the challenges and opportunities of their respective sectors. Dr. Miftah Ismail (Minister of State & Chairman, Board of Investment); Dr. Syed Ismail Shah (Chairman, Pakistan Telecommunication Authority); Arif Habib(Chairman, Arif Habib Corporation); Ehsan A. Malik (CEO, Pakistan Business Council); Shahab Rizvi (President, OICCI); S. M. Shabbar Zaidi (Senior Partner, A. F. Ferguson & Company, a member firm of PwC); Syed Asad Ali Shah (Managing Partner, Deloitte Pakistan); Syed Masoud Ali Naqvi (Chairman, Tax Reforms Commission & Member of Tax Reforms Implementation Committee); Dr. Farrukh Iqbal (Dean & Director, IBA); Kimihide Ando (CEO for Pakistan & Senior Vice President, Mitsubishi Corporation, Japan); Hassan Nasir Jami (Additional Secretary for Water & Power); Khalid Mansoor (Vice President, OICCI & CEO, HUBCO); Shamsuddin A. Shaikh (CEO, Sindh Engro Coal Mining Company Limited); Mohammad Ali Tabba (CEO, Lucky Cement Limited & Vice Chairman, ICI Pakistan Limited); Dr. Mirza Ikhtiar Baig (Chairman, Baig Group); Zafar I. Sobani (Board Member, Privatisation Commission); Abrar Hasan (Director, PBC & Managing Director, National Foods Limited); Dr. Amjad Waheed (CEO, NBP Fullerton Asset Management Limited); Abdul Aleem (CEO & Secretary General, OICCI); Mosharraf Zaidi (Columnist & Founder, Alif Ailaan) spoke during various sessions of Pakistan Business & Economic Summit.