April 4, 2003	Friday	Safar 1, 1424

KARACHI, April 3: The Karachi Chamber of Commerce and Industry (KCCI) has suggested that the State Bank should dish out $2 billion from reserves for industrial development, particularly for small and medium sized enterprises.

President Pervez Musharraf on Thursday held a meeting with business leaders and industrialists of the city at Governor House to seek suggestions for promotion of investment and industrial development.

During the meeting KCCI president Nasser Hyatt Maggo suggested that the State Bank should give $2 billion out of foreign exchange reserves to banks who should give loans on soft terms to small and medium sized enterprises.

He said by doing so there will be a rapid industrialization which will also be helpful in increasing exports and generating much needed employment.

The KCCI chief further said that a ‘Service Zone’ should be established where overseas Pakistani should be asked to invest in such specialized areas like health and education.

Elaborating his suggestion Nasser Hyatt Maggo said that Pakistani doctors living in North America could be asked to set up hospitals and universities in such service zones.

The huge amount being received in remittances from returning Pakistanis should not go into unproductive areas such as real estate because this would not be helpful in any way to bring prosperity and industrialization in the country.

He said the Board of Investment (BoI) should prepare feasibilities for different category of industries so that the country could enter into other areas of industrial development which was presently focussed only on textile industry.

Maggo said that the country was entering into free trade agreements with different countries, therefore, it was imperative that the ministries of commerce and industries should be merged to protect the interest of the local industry.

He said that by merging both the ministries it would be easy for the policy makers to know what was in the larger interest of the country and its industrial base.

President Musharraf was accompanied by Shaukat Aziz, adviser to the prime minister on Finance, Dr Abdul Hafeez Sheikh, advisor to the PM on Privatization and Investment, Commerce Minister Humayun Akhtar Khan, EPB Chairman Tariq Ikram and Governor Punjab Khalid Maqbool.

Prominent among industrialists and businessmen were FPCCI President Riaz Tata, Yousuf Sherazi, S M Muneer and Mian Abdullah.

Some participants demanded removal of sales tax on exports and other suggested that the system should be improved to remove the irritants.