RAWALPINDI: The Rawalpindi Chamber of Commerce and Industry (RCCI) President Zahid Latif Khan hosted a dinner in honour of the ambassadors, high commissioners, and commercial counselors here at a local hotel in Islamabad.
More than 60 Ambassadors of various countries including Germany, Afghanistan, Iran, Belarus, Poland, Argentine, Brazil, Spain, Somalia, and high commissioner of Srilanka, Bangladesh, deputy head of foreign missions and commercial counselors attended the dinner. Senior vice president Muhammad Nasir Mirza, Vice President Khalid Farooq Qazi, group leaders, Sohail Altaf, SM Naseem, former presidents, members of the executive committee and a large number of traders were also present in the event.
Addressing the ceremony, RCCI President Zahid Latif Khan in his welcome address thanked the dignitaries and traders for an overwhelming gathering. In his brief speech, he highlighted the key initiatives taken by RCCI to promote trade in the region and improve networking amongst the trading community.
An update on RCCI’s past, current and upcoming events was also given to the participants.  He also highlighted the chamber’s performance and efforts to enhance Pakistan’s exports and strengthen the national economy, including arranging business conferences in the UK and Qatar.
While referring to the empowerment of women, RCCI chief said that we recently successfully organized the All Pakistan Women Chamber Presidents’ Conference where more than 17 Presidents of Women Chambers from all over Pakistan attended the two days’ summit. The main purpose of this initiative was to provide women a platform to excel in the field of entrepreneurship, improve networking and consultation.
Group leader and former president Sohail Altaf in his address said RCCI has been playing an active role to act as a bridge between the business community and the concerned quarters. He also urged diplomats to portray a positive image of Pakistan in their respective countries. Sohail Altaf while referring to the recent event in Paris concerning the Financial Action and Task Force (FATF) and its latest action, expressed hope that diplomats will play their due role in averting any negative action under FATF against Pakistan.
“Pakistan, a country with 200 million population offers promising business opportunities for foreign investors and using this platform, we urged the government to increase more benefits and incentives to enable Foreign Direct Investment. CPEC now has become a reality on the ground, and we would like your countries to play an active part in this mega project through joint ventures”, he added.
He said the business community suffered a lot post 9/11 and our economy faced a big blow due to terrorist activities in the country. With a collective approach, the government succeeded in narrowing terror incidents and now the world has acknowledged that Pakistan has improved its internal security situation.
