KARACHI, Dec 21: Riaz Ahmed Tata has been elected unopposed as president of Federation of Pakistan Chambers of Commerce and Industry (FPCCI) for the term 2003-04.

Sheikh Maqbool Ahmed, Haroon Rashid, Sardar Mohammad Jogezai, Eng M.A. Jabbar, Sohail Altaf, Raja Mohammad Jamil and Mian Arshad Alam have been elected unopposed as vice presidents, representing all four provinces and Azad Jammu Kashmir for the first time in the history of FPCCI.

The annual general meeting will be held on December 31 at the Federation House where outgoing office-bearers will hand over the charges to the newly elected members.

Sohail Altaf is a consensus candidate for vice president representing Sindh. Mohammad Asif, who is also contesting for the same post, has consented to send his withdrawal by December 22. In case his withdrawal is not received by Sunday, the election for the post of vice president, representing Punjab, will be held on December 23. Otherwise, there will be no polling for the election of vice presidents on December 23 and for the election of president on December 26 as scheduled.

The election of president and vice presidents is the outcome of the mutual consensus reached between Tariq Saeed (Businessmen Panel) and Ilyas Bilour (Businessmen Forum) on Saturday. Shaikh Jamil Ahmed Magoon, Mian Habib Ullah, Ahmed Sattar, Iftikhar Ali Malik and Ebrahim Panwalla also played an important role in helping two parties to reach consensus.

Meanwhile, newly elected FPCCI president Riaz Tata has vowed to continue to work for the cause of the business community and highlighted the problems confronting the businessmen with the new political government.

“I think the most pressing problem for the government is the growing unemployment. It can be controlled by setting up more industries,” he told Dawn, adding FPCCI would suggest ways and means to tackle it and asked the government to chalk out production-oriented policies.

He said the government should come up with such economic policies that could encourage the local and foreign investors to set up more industries. “It will not only help overcome unemployment problem but will also boost production and export earnings.”

The government, he said, should also ponder seriously over the issue of law and order situation and resolve the problem of joblessness. Efforts should also be made to control the inflationary trend in various items.

He said investments — local and foreign — had not come in a big way. He termed the cut in power rates by 12 paisa as a gimmick as it cannot offset the huge increase made in the last three years.

“We will take stock of the situation with the help of our members and then talk to the government for their solutions,” Tata said. He said the new government should give priority in resolving the problems of the business community rather than focussing on revenue collection and other issues.