KARACHI: Chairman Businessmen Group (BMG) & Former President of the Karachi Chamber of Commerce & Industry (KCCI) Siraj Kassam Teli has categorically stated that BMG is not participating in the forthcoming election of the Federation of Pakistan Chamber of Commerce & Industry (FPCCI) on December 28, 2018 as FPCCI remains infected by fake/ bogus and paper-based trade associations/ chambers and continues to follow the same old policy of ‘hails to the presence’.
In a statement issued, Chairman BMG said, “We have not been participating in FPCCI’s election since many years and we will not be participating this year as well because FPCCI is largely marred with fake trade bodies/ chambers. However, we would like to request our well-wishers and friends from various trade associations and chambers, who are voters in FPCCI’s election, to cast their votes in favor of Mian Anjum Nisar’s Businessmen Panel with Allauddin Marri contesting for Presidential slot and other BMP candidates.
Referring to KCCI’s election, he said that the opponents of Mian Anjum Nisar and his Businessmen Panel had hatched a conspiracy by contesting against us after 11 years but they faced a terrible defeat as the entire business and industrial community rejected them and voted for Businessmen Group which won the election by securing all 15 seats with 100 percent margin. “At that point in time, BMP came forward to support BMG in KCCI’s election and we are very thankful to them”, he added.
Siraj Teli opined that due to presence of fake, bogus and paper-based Chambers/ Trade Associations, the actual and true representatives of Business and Industrial community have become totally voiceless at FPCCI, which is the basic reason why BMG and KCCI prefer to stay away from FPCCI’s election every year.
FPCCI has lost its credibility as it remains busy in just flattering and pleasing the decision makers because of these bogus trade bodies.
He further said that BMG and KCCI also have serious objections over FPCCI’s way of working as instead of highlighting the core national issues and giving recommendations on numerous policies at the federal level, FPCCI is engaged in carrying out activities/ meetings which do not fall under its domain. “Such activities/ meetings are encroachments on the activities falling under the domain of Chambers/ Industrial Associations/ All Pakistan Trade Associations etc. as FPCCI does not have any businessmen/ industrialists/ importers/ exporters as its members, FPCCI has only Chambers and All Pakistan Trade Associations as members and not individual companies. Therefore they, as an institution, should take inputs about policy issues pertaining to budget, trade and economy from its member Chambers/ All Pakistan Trade Associations and forward them to the policymakers at the federal level and get them resolved”, he added.
It is pertinent to mention that in order to improve FPCCI’s state of affairs, Chairman BMG, on various occasions, has been urging the need to revert back to Trade Organization Ordinance (TOO) 2007 which was finalized after taking inputs from all the stakeholders and was fully endorsed by the entire business and industrial community of Pakistan while the TOO 2013 should be completely abolished as it gave enough room to bogus trade bodies to take advantage of the situation.