LAHORE, April 14: The Punjab Economic Forum (PEF), with an objective to further the economic interests of the province, was launched here on Friday.

Headed by former president of Lahore Chamber of Commerce and Industry Mian Anjum Nisar, the forum has 30-member executive committee comprising presidents of all 15 chambers of commerce and industry of the province and 15 technocrats i.e. economists, agriculturists and consumers.

Three vice-presidents of the forum had been picked from chambers of commerce and industry of central, southern and northern parts of the province. This year, presidents of Faisalabad, Bahawalpur and Rawalpindi Chamber of Commerce and Industry would represent their respective regions.

Anjum Nisar addressing a press conference said that with the launch of the forum, the voice of the Punjab chambers would be raised in unison, in stead of sending separate voluminous proposals from all the 15 chambers to the Ministry of Finance and Punjab Finance Department.

He said that proposals sent to the forum by all the 15 chambers of the province for the upcoming federal budget had been compiled into a single document keeping in view region-specific needs.

“We are submitting these proposals to the ministry of finance,” the founding president of the forum said. “Most of these are mainly related to under-invoicing and smuggling, sales tax, income tax, high utility prices, customs duty, infrastructure, toll tax, fake products, environment, inflation and trade policy,” he added.—APP