Faisalabad’s role in policymaking to be enhanced: FCCI president

Arif Ehsan Malik, the recently chosen head of the Faisalabad Chamber of Commerce and Industry, pledged at the body's annual general meeting to push harder for a bigger role for the city in policymaking. According to Business Recorder, his agenda covers digitising the Chamber, strengthening standing committees, building a textile circular city and setting up a Special Technology Zone. He also named venture capital for startups, artificial intelligence for industrial problems and a Faisalabad Expo Centre among his goals.

Malik said Pakistan ranks fifth among the world's most populated nations and has an economy of around USD 420 billion. Its location, he noted, opens routes to the Middle East, Central Asia, the Arabian Sea and China, yet shipping containers are held up at harbours for up to a month. He called for the reasons behind these holdups to be identified and removed. He argued that import duties on man-made fibres, which make up 80 percent of textile raw material, should be scrapped to lift exports.

The SME sector supplies 30 percent of exports, he said, but other borrowers take a larger share of the loans meant for it, and he intends to route SME financing through the EXIM Bank. He also asked Commerce Minister Jam Kamal for feedback on a new 20-nation trading bloc that includes China.