Daily Times

ISLAMABAD: President SAARC Chamber of Commerce and Industry Iftikhar Ali Malik Tuesday said sustainable political stability is pre-requisite for sound economy which will promise greater weal for the people from different strata of the society.

Addressing a high level delegation of Karachi traders led by President United Business Group Zubair Tufail through Webinar he said Pakistan at this crucial juncture of time since its inception in the wake of Covid-19 can neither endure political turmoil nor afford political instability.

He said “We need an uninterrupted stable democracy which is prerequisite for sustained economic growth to cope with the multiple challenges in Pakistan”.

He said that politics of confrontation, agitation, protest, violence and agitation is not solution.

He said time has changed as now the influential nations are paying more attention to financial warfare to continue their dominance. These countries are successfully using their weapons of economic destruction to weaken economics of poor nations to achieve their unholy designs while Pakistan’s economy is not strong enough to withstand economic terrorism.

Iftikhar Malik said it is indeed important to increase our exports and for that purpose we need to reduce our cost of doing business so that our products remain competitive in the world markets.

Trade facilitation is the key to promote industries and we need to remove all the obstacles and create the culture of trade facilitation, he said. He stressed the urgent need for consistency in the government policies and a clear roadmap to move forward,” he added.

The veteran trade leader was of the view that all the sectors including the industrial sector should discharge their national obligations and play their key role in strengthening the economy while the government should introduce reforms and control the smuggling of raw material and finished goods.

Iftikhar Malik who is also chairman UBG also urged the government to conduct market research to find out new foreign destinations for the Pakistani products which are best in the world as far as quality and price is concerned.

He said that Pakistani missions abroad should be duty bound to introduce Pakistani products to the foreign buyers and also ensure dissemination of trade related information so that Pakistan entrepreneurs could avail trade opportunities to the maximum.