KARACHI: The government constituted a 22-member Council of Business Leaders on Thursday aimed at getting input from the private sector to boost exports and create jobs.
Prime Minister Imran Khan will be the chairman of the council which will have representation from leading sectors of the economy, according to a notification issued by the Ministry of Commerce.
The maximum representation has been given to the textile sector. Some of the council members were also in a similar committee that the previous government had set up.
Out of 22 members, 20 are from the private sector. Adviser to Prime Minister on Commerce Abdul Razak Dawood will be the president of the council.
he council would ensure that Pakistan’s business leaders, as representatives of the business community, have access to a structured forum to provide feedback on the government’s business, economic, investment, tariff and taxation policies, stated the commerce ministry.
It added the policymakers would benefit from a diverse set of opinions while formulating and implementing the government’s agenda with respect to creating jobs.
The members will also be required to give input to boost exports, increase investment and enhance the ease of doing business. These have remained Pakistan’s weakest areas, forcing the new government to explore various avenues to tackle the deepening external sector challenges.
Out of 20 private sector members, about four are from the textile sector, two are from the cement sector and others are from automobile, logistics, sports goods, food, petrochemical, retail, engineering and computer businesses.
Among the members are Muhammad Ali Tabba of Lucky Cement, Bashir Ali Muhammad of Gul Ahmed Textile Mills, Shahid Soorty of Soorty Enterprises Private Limited, Musadiq Zulqarnain of Interloop Holding Private Limited, Seema Aziz of the famous Bareeze garments brand and Azam Farooque of Cherat Cement Company.
Among other members are Shahid Abdullah of Sapphire Textile Mills, Khawar Anwar Khawaja of GOC Pak Limited – a sports goods manufacturing company, Baber Badat of Transfreight Corporation, Naz Khan of X Petroleum Limited, Abrar Hassan of National Food Private Limited and Saqib Sherazi of Atlas Honda Limited.
Shahid Hussain of Services Sales Limited, Usman Khalid Waheed of Ferozesons Laboratories, Samina Rizwan of Oracle Corporation, Almas Haider of Synthetic Products Enterprises, Afaq Tiwana of Agrimall Private Limited, Asif Peer of Visionnet Systems and Systems Limited, Zarak Khan of Peshawar Particleboard Industries and Abdul Rauf of Farooq Ghee and Oil Mills are also among the members.