KARACHI, March 15: A new constitution is being prepared for the Federation of Pakistan Chambers of Commerce and Industry to make the affairs of the apex trade body of the country transparent, responsible and responsive.

In his first meeting with media on Tuesday, the recently elected President of the Federation of the Pakistan Chambers of Commerce and Industry Chowdhry Saeed Ahmad said that the Managing Committee of the Federation has decided to prepare a 10 years? vision, which would spell out goals and ambitions of the business leadership.

?We are trying to bring back all the senior businessmen and leaders of top business houses in the chambers to share with them their experience and gain from their knowledge,? he told a questioner. Many of these senior businessmen and top business houses have economic and business relations with countries about which the present generation of businessmen want to know.

Chowdhry Saeed conceded that at present the Federation and its affiliated trade bodies suffer from knowledge handicaps and limitations and therefore it has been decided to strengthen the research section. ?We have advertised for four consultants who will help us in building a data bank and a strong research section,? he said.

?We communicate a lot with the government,? he said and pointed out that a data bank and services of experts and scholars would help the business leadership to prepare convincing documents in support of the issues with the government. Chowdhry Saeed said that he has asked the Bankers Association and has also met presidents of the banks to ?put some money in the Federation?s research projects.?

Also, he added the Federation has approached the International Business Administration (IBA), the Lahore University of Management Sciences (LUMS) and the Pakistan Institute of Management (PIM) to help trade bodies in development of human resources.

?We are asking these top institutions of management sciences to send their top internees in the offices of our trade bodies so that they give their observations on our affairs and we benefit from their knowledge,? he said.

As a part of revamping the Federation, he said the work force is being asked to reorient themselves and now every one of them has been given a form to fill. In this forms the employees have been asked to assess their own potential in terms of the service targets proposed for them.

Yet another target he said is to launch a website of the Federation to make its affairs transparent.

Chowdhry Saeed warned that the Federation would henceforth demand total corporate compliance from its 128 affiliated trade bodies and no matter even if the Securities and Exchange Commission of Pakistan and the Commerce Ministry granted licence ?we in the Federation will de-affiliate all such trade bodies that fail to come up to the required corporate practice standard.?

He welcomed a suggestion of having a luminary from the jurists as the Director of Trade Organisations (DTO) rather than assigning the task of regulating trade bodies to a bureaucrat.

Yet another decision taken by the Federation is to institute Arbitrary Tribunal at the beginning to arbitrate in the dispute of the trade bodies. ?We will prefer outsiders in this tribunal,? he stressed.

Chowdhry Saeed said that he hopes the Federation to make some headway by next June in the direction set by the Managing Committee in March. ?We will invite you again in June to share with you our experiences and achievements we have been able to make in that direction,? he said.