KARACHI, April 21: The Federation of Pakistan Chambers of Commerce and Industry (FPCCI) and Small and Medium Enterprise Development Authority (Smeda) have decided to set up a joint committee on alternate dispute resolution to promote the concept of out-of-court settlement of disputes.

These disputes are categorized as the disputes between government departments and businessmen, and the trade disputes between two parties of the business community.

This was decided during a meeting of three-member team of senior officers from Smeda and members of FPCCI here at Federation House on Friday.

Vice-president Akbar Abdullah led the FPCCI team and General Manager Business and Sectors Development Services Sultan Tiwana headed Smeda team.

The committee would receive references from the SMEs to solve their disputes through ADR process. After initial scrutiny of a case and finding it suitable for mediation, the committee would forward the case to Smeda for mediation.—APP