FAISALABAD, Jan 3: The newly-inducted chairman, Faisalabad Dry Port Trust, Sheikh Mukhtar Ahmed, has assured maximum facilities to importers and exporters.

Speaking to the Board of Trustees, here at FDPT on Friday, the chairman said that all future plans and policies relating to FDPT would be conceived with the help and suggestions of former office-holders and other concerned.

He said after the start of regional trade, FDP would play a vital role in maximizing the exports from this important city of the country.

He assured that he would raise voice at higher level for the resolution of longstanding demands faced by the importers and exporters of this region.

He lauded the efforts of former chairmen, Mian Muhammad Latif and Mushtaq Ali Cheema, for making the Faisalabad Dry Port as the biggest dry port of the country in value and volume wise, set up in the private sector.

Earlier, outgoing Chairman, Mushtaq Ali Cheema, informed the participants that in 2002, the FDPT handled 25,442 export cargo containers having an approximate value of Rs50,884 million while 5010 import cargo containers.

He further said that this achievement became possible due to keen interest of the BoTs and the professional management of the FDPT in the development of the Dry Port.

Founder Chairman FDPT and renowned exporter, Mian Muhammad Latif, said that Faisalabad Dry Port was a commercial enterprise and the Trustees were performing voluntary services.

He exhorted the new office-bearers that they should maintain the traditions of their predecessors.

Sheikh Mukhtar Ahmed and Syed Faheem Mehmood were inducted Chairman and Senior Vice Chairman of the FDPT for the year 2003 while Khalid Jawed, Aslam Anjum Chaudhry, and Mian Saleem-ul-Hassan, would be the Vice Chairmen for the tenure.