ISLAMABAD: In a move that is likely to be opposed by the businessmen of the port city, the leadership of Federation of Pakistan Chambers of Commerce & Industry (FPCCI) has decided to shift its head office from Karachi to Islamabad, as all the relevant government departments are stationed in the federal capital.
However, a final decision in this regard will be taken after the FPCCI’s general body meeting scheduled to be held next month.
Talking with journalists on Friday at the federation’s capital office, FPCCI coordinator Mirza Abdul Rehman said that 85pc of FPCCI-recognised chambers, associations and trade bodies have demanded the federal chamber to shift its head office from Karachi to Islamabad.
“The major reason for this demand is that all ministers, diplomatic missions, head offices of regulatory bodies, including DGTO, SECP, FBR and SAARC CCI etc., are in Islamabad,” Rehman said. “Times have changed and industrial and commercial centres are branching out, contrary to the situation some decades ago when Karachi was the only hub of industries and commerce.”
He said the demand was also one of the promises made by the Businessmen Panel (BMP) during its election campaign.
“Besides, we have also announced a reduction in the license fee of trade bodies and women chambers; all these agenda items will be discussed in the upcoming meetings of the executive body as well as the general body scheduled to be held in the first week of August,” he said.
Meanwhile, sources said that FPCCI President Mian Anjum Nisar has already started to discuss the issue of shifting the head office to Islamabad with the members of various chambers of commerce and trade associations to obtain a positive response to the proposal.
The FPCCI general body consists of one member from each registered trade association and one from each recognised chamber of commerce of the country.
FPCCI was established in 1950 and its members include 59 chambers of commerce and industry, 17 women chambers, nine chambers of small traders, 130 trade associations and seven joint chambers across the country.
