ISLAMABAD: Islamabad’s Mayor, Sheikh Anser Aziz visited the Islamabad Chamber of Commerce and Industry (ICC) and discussed the possibilities of setting up a Metropolitan Commerce Unit (MCU) that would help in planning for better economic development of the city.
ICCI President Sheikh Amir Waheed, Senior Vice President Muhammad Naveed Malik, Vice President Nisar Mirza, and representatives of Police Research Institute of Market Economy (PRIME) were present at the occasion.
Speaking at the occasion, Sheikh Anser Aziz said that developed countries achieved better economic growth by developing strong local governments and Pakistan should also focus on strengthening the local governments to resolve problems of people and achieve sustainable growth.
He lauded the proposal of ICCI for establishing Metropolitan Commerce Unit in collaboration with MCI and said that concept paper of the proposal should be shared so that MCI could consider signing MoU with ICCI for execution of the proposal.
ICCI President, in his welcome address, said that metropolitan cities were driving innovation, resilience and business expansion in modern economies and Pakistan should also focus on the better development of metropolitan cities.
He said the proposed Metropolitan Commerce Unit would generate data and information on key sectors of the local economy that would help MCI in better planning and facilitate the flow of trade and investment in the city.
Chief Operating Officer (COO) Ayesha Bilal said that Pakistan needed out of the box solutions to create a metropolitan-based economic governance model and added that establishment Metropolitan Commerce Unit (MCU) would be a positive step in that direction. They assured that PRIME would provide all sorts of technical support to make MCU a successful model for city development.
