RAWALPINDI, Oct 22: Rawalpindi Chamber of Commerce and Industry (RCCI) will abstain from the emergent meeting called by the Federation of Pakistan Chambers of Commerce and Industry (FPCCI) in Karachi on Thursday to discuss the prevailing situation of the country.
The emergent meeting is to discuss energy tariff, loadshedding, rising inflation and their impact causing widespread closure of industrial units and other business activities and law and order situation.
The federation has taken serious note of the rising cost of energy together with loadshedding measures, government’s refusal to reduce the prices of petroleum products despite the fact that international price of crude oil has crashed from $147 to less than $70; rising inflation and its effects on the economy and the general public and threats of unemployment due to closure of industrial units.
The RCCI president, Abdul Rauf Chaudhry, ruled out the participation of RCCI in the FPCCI emergent meeting, stating that the election process to elect members of executive committee, vice-president and president of the chamber has started.
Under the new trade organisation ordinance 2007, the chamber has to elect its 22 member executive committee every year. Ten members are drawn from the corporate sector while 10 members as associate members. In addition, two women members are also elected to the executive committee. The 22-member executive body will elect its new president and vice-president on November 15.
The federation has a total of 40 chambers across the country as its members and 108 trade associations affiliated with the body. Mohammad Farooq Dadabhoy, acting president of FPCCI, will chair the emergent meeting of the federation.
Meanwhile, the RCCI president in a statement has welcomed State Bank’s decision to provide financial support to banks and said this measure would help strengthen financial institutions and decline dollar demand in the market. He said withdrawal of cash from banks by the public following rumours by vested interest was totally unjustified and asked the people to stop withdrawing cash from banks as it was not safe due to prevailing law and order situation.