President of Pakistan Dr Arif Alvi has directed the business leaders and exporters to adopt new and innovative technologies to promote their products and gain more market share in international markets. He said that it is important for the business community to adapt, innovate, and utilize modern methods of production and distribution like the e-commerce platforms to increase their productivity and competitiveness. He stressed the need for quality improvement and maintenance to maintain international standards according to the regulations and criteria set by the International Standards Organization (ISO). “Pakistan needs to take all possible measures to maintain a balance between its imports and exports so that it can manage its current account deficit,” he said.

 The president made these remarks while addressing the 45th Federation of Pakistan Chambers of Commerce and Industry (FPCCI) Exports Awards Ceremony held in Aiwan-e-Sadr in Islamabad. He highlighted the gains made by Pakistan in ease of doing business rankings and said that Pakistan’s businesses need to fully invest in digital technologies and products to make inroads into the future. “Government is doing its best to help the businesses and improve the trading conditions in the country. The incentives offered by the government need to be fully utilized by traders to increase their profitability and productivity,” he said.

 “The environment to attract foreign direct investments in the country is also improving. This is the reason that we are seeing a lot of investments coming into the country,” he continued.  The president said that the business community should utilize the youth bulge of Pakistan for producing high-end products for domestic consumption as well as for exports.  Talking about the energy needs of the country, he said that “dams play an important role in the long-term development of the country. They store water, prevent flooding, and also help in the generation of clean energy. The same is the case with solar energy. We need to invest a lot in renewable forms of energy to contribute towards the mitigation of climate crises.” “To conserve water and land, the agriculture sector needs to revamp its production methods. Modern methods like vertical farming and drip irrigation need to be adopted at a mass scale,” he said.

He added that Pakistan’s economy was undergoing a very difficult phase. “It has been affected by the recent global warming-induced floods, resulting in an unprecedented loss of lives and damage to the country’s infrastructure.”  “Loss to the economy is in billions of UD dollars. It will take a lot more to recover from the loss of lives, infrastructure and washed-away crops. Our nation has shown time and again that it is resilient enough to recover and stand on its feet after any kind of crisis.

We have always proven our strength as a nation and we will emerge stronger from this.” He highlighted the role of government in successfully evading the worst consequences Covid-19 pandemic and said that “we will overcome the present crises if we show strength in face of adversity and determination in face of challenges.” He called on the business community to help their flood-affected countrymen with open hearts.   The president said that it is “important to train our workforce since trained workforce can help a lot in improving our productive capacity.

Trained minds will help innovate, diversify, and increase the efficiency and competitiveness of our products. It is the only way through which we can compete with our global competitors. Branding of our products and developing a Made-in-Pakistan culture will go a long way to maintain and sustain our productive capacity,” he said. “By creating our own brands and improving their quality and standards, we can capture local markets through local products, which will help in import substitution thus saving precious foreign exchange,” he added. He also stressed the role of women in society and business. He said that women are equal humans as men. They can work to the same level of productivity as men. They can perform well in many sectors than men.

They have brilliant minds and brilliant solutions to difficult problems. The demographic composition of our society demands that we hire and train women on equal basis as men. The president congratulated the winners and the Federation of Pakistan Chambers of Commerce and Industry for organizing such an excellent event. He encouraged those who could not win that failures should not stop them from working hard and innovation. “Failure is the key to success,” he said. 

FPCCI President Irfan Iqbal Sheikh for his part said that despite all the difficult challenges, Pakistan’s exports had reached USD 34.7 billion dollars. He also said that the business community was doing all that it could to help the flood-affected people.  Anjum Nisar and Senator Haji Ghulam Ali also spoke on the occasion. They emphasized that exporters and the business community should especially focus on trade with unexplored African and Central Asian markets because of their closer proximity to Pakistan by offering high-quality products and services.

Credit : Independent News Pakistan-WealthPk