LAHORE:Lahore Chamber of Commerce & Industry (LCCI) on Wednesday urged the government to consult private sector while making business related policies to make them result-oriented and beneficial to economy.
LCCI President Kashif Anwar made this demand while addressing a delegation of 34th Public Sector Management and Governance Course, led by Instructor (Planning) Zoune Arif, here at Lahore Chamber. LCCI Senior Vice President Chaudhry Zafar Mahmood and EC Member Sheikh Muhammad Ibrahim also spoke on the occasion.
The management course participants were shown LCCI documentary and were answered a number of questions asked by them, ranging from tax to private sector’s role in policy making.
The LCCI office-bearers said that Lahore Chamber had declared this year as “Business Compliance and Facilitation” and strong liaison between the government and the business community was also one of its top priorities.
LCCI President Kashif Anwar said, “We are emphasizing on the importance of filing tax return in order to broaden tax base.”
While answering a question regarding business community’s wish to minimize the role of government in taxation and other relevant matters, the LCCI President said the business community did not want to minimize the role of government but wanted the due representation of private sectors in policy making process.
To another question regarding the static tax base, Kashif Anwar said that when the existing taxpayers would be given due respect and differentiated from the non-taxpayer, the tax base would automatically expand.
LCCI Senior Vice President Chaudhry Zafar Mahmood said, “We are sharing the burden of the government by revenue and employment generation.” He said that business community wanted reciprocal response and respect from public institutions as well. He invited the participants to visit again after six months to review the performance of the LCCI.
He said, Lahore Chamber was going to invite Governor Punjab and Vice Chancellors at LCCI for consultation for establishing entrepreneurs centers in universities soon. The idea was in process of planning these days, he said and asserted that it would help strengthen the industry-academia linkages.
Leader of the delegation Zoune Arif said that purpose of the visit of the Lahore Chamber was to enhance liaison between the public and private sector in order to run the relative affairs smoothly. She said that there were a lot of policy gaps due to space between public and private sectors which needed to be fulfilled with mutual cooperation and consultations. She hoped that these participants after accomplishing the course and after assuming their offices would comply with the needs of business community.
The LCCI office-bearers hoped that after the training and holding positions of immense importance, the delegation members would make an effort to understand the private sector and develop policies in consultation with the business community.
The LCCI office-bearers informed the delegation that the primary function of LCCI was policy advocacy. Through its Research and Development Department, the Chamber identified the issues and their viable solutions with the input of standing committees focused on the various sectors. These issues were taken up at the highest forums of government for their early resolution.
LCCI facilitated the business community by keeping them aware of the opportunities and challenges originating from the globalization of trade and investment, they added.
They said that LCCI prepared budget proposals and sent them to government for consideration so that tax anomalies could be rectified and private sector representatives might be encouraged to take new business initiatives. LCCI gave feedback to the government on various public policies e.g. Industrial Policy, Investment Policy, SME Policy and Trade Policy etc. LCCI also organized seminars, workshops and conferences for capacity building of its members, they maintained.
The LCCI office-bearers added that Lahore Chamber had signed lots of MoUs with national and international organizations related to trade and other important fields like banking, education, diplomatic affairs etc. Apart from pursuing its main objective of promoting and protecting the interests of trade & industry, LCCI carried out Corporate Social Responsibility quite actively. Such activities included donations to hospitals and educational institutes and participating in relief activities as and when needed. They mentioned that LCCI recently donated around Rs 38 million and also sent trucks of daily use items to ease the hardships of flood affectees.
They said that the organizations like SMEDA, Excise & Taxation, LESCO, FBR, PESSI, Bank of Punjab, UBL, PCSIR, FTO, PIA, Punjab Land Records Authority and WASA etc. were cooperating with LCCI. In addition to that LCCI members were benefitting from NADRA, Passport Facilitation Center, NADRA E-Sahulat Center, Driving License and Police Khidmat Markaz etc.
In the end, SVP presented vote of thanks to the participants for visiting the LCCI.