The final list of all the candidates contesting for the 16 seats of Executive Committee of the Lahore Chamber of Commerce and Industry (LCCI) was issued here on Tuesday. There are seven seats of the Corporate Class and 8 seats of Associate Class while one seat is reserved for women entrepreneur. The polling for the Corporate Class will be held on 25th September while elections on the seats of Associate Class will be held on 26th September. PIAF-Founder Alliance and Lahore Businessman Front are two main groups who are contesting the elections. There are total 13849 voters in the list in which 3200 votes are from the Corporate Class.
According to the list issued on Tuesday, Tahir Malik from Trafco Logistics (Pvt) Ltd, Muhammad Nawaz from Farooq Glass Industries, Muhammad Nadeem Qureshi from 4B Gentel International (Pvt) Ltd, Mian Tariq Rehman from Pharmasales International (Pvt) Ltd, Tahir Manzoor Ch from Lever Engineering Industries, Mardan Ali Zaidi from Swera Departmental Store, Abdul Wadood Alvi from Adan Printers, Malik Riaz Iqbal from Nadir Saidjan Industries and Mubashar Naseer Butt from Body Media International (Pvt) Ltd are contesting for the seven seats of Corporate Class.
Moreover, Kashif Bashir from Muhammad Bashir and Sons, Muhammad Nasir Hameed from S.N.Traders, Maqbool Siddique from Mian Cables, Saleem Asghar Bhatti from from Goshi Electronics, Shahzad Butt from Ferista Enterprises, Muhammad Naeem Hanif from Hian Communication, Shahid Nazir from Filter House, Ali Afzal from Afzal Sons, Amjad Chaudhry from Trade Channels, Mian Javed Ali from Victory Hardware Mart, Ali Raza from Ali Raza Traders, Zain Elahi from Zain Traders, Nabeel Mehmood from Pak Afghan Goods Transport Co, Ch Muhammad Rashid from Royal Traders, Wasim Abbas from Sidra Traders, Sajid Aziz Meer from Meer Brothers, Muhammad Asim from Mughal Traders, Mian Kamran Saif from Mian Kamran Traders, Rana Muhammad Riaz from Master Group, Muhammad Saveed from Saveed Associates, Muhammad Mansha Bhatti from Daily Khadim-e-Aala Lahore and Muhammad Khalid from Lahore Tour Services are contesting for 8 seats of Associate Class. Shireen Arshad from Shireen’s Designer World and Mussarat Nawaz from R.A.Traders are contesting for one seat reserved for women entrepreneur.
The campaign of both the groups is in full swing as just a couple of days are left in the elections. The PIAF-Founders Alliance visited Macload Road (Sewing Machine Market), Montgomery Road, Anarkali, Bano Bazar, Neela Gumbad, Hall Road and Hafeez Centre on Tuesday to woo the support of voters. The Lahore Businessman Front visited Shalimar Link Road Traders Association to get the support of markets.
Meanwhile, President of The Lahore Chamber of Commerce and Industry (LCCI) Irfan Iqbal Sheikh on Tuesday said that the State Bank of Pakistan (SBP) should reconsider its decision to maintain the policy rate at seven percent. He said that due to Covid-19, the business community especially the SMEs was expecting that SBP will further reduce the Policy rate to provide breathing space to the industrial sector which is already struggling.
He said that it was important for the much-needed new investment in the industrial sector, adding that a noteworthy cut in the policy rate would help the industrial sector to keep the ball rolling. The LCCI office-bearers including President, Senior Vice President and Vice President said that the reduction in policy rate would benefit industrial sector in many ways i.e it will reduce the production cost and bring the competitiveness among Pakistani products with international market.
They said even before Corona countries like Switzerland, Denmark, Japan are aiding their industrial sector with lowest interest rates and have maintained the policy rates at lowest for the last many years.