The Islamabad Chamber of Commerce & Industry (ICCI) and the Faisalabad Women Chamber of Commerce & Industry (FWCCI) have signed a memorandum of understanding (MoU) to work together to resolve the key issues of women entrepreneurs and promote their economic empowerment.
ICCI President Muhammad Shakeel Munir and FWCCI President Nighat Shahid signed the MoU during a ceremony held at ICCI, said a statement issued on Monday.
By signing the MoU, ICCI will support FWCCI in highlighting the key issues of women entrepreneurs for the attention of the government and cooperate in efforts for increasing the role of women in the economic development of the country. Both chambers will strengthen mutual cooperation to help women entrepreneurs in business development and will raise the common issues of businesswomen at relevant forums for redress.
Both the trade bodies will arrange exchange of visits of their respective members to discuss matters of common interest. They will work together to develop recommendations for the government to accelerate business activities and exports. They will also make joint efforts for promoting a positive image of Pakistan and enhancing trade, investment, exports and tourism.
Speaking at the occasion, Muhammad Shakeel Munir said that only one percent of women in Pakistan are entrepreneurs, due to which the country is not realising its full economic potential and urged that the government should make policies to encourage and promote women entrepreneurs for that would ensure robust economic growth of the country.
He stressed that measures should be taken to overcome the barriers for women entrepreneurs and encourage more females towards entrepreneurship for inclusive economic growth of the country. He assured that ICCI would fully cooperate with FWCCI for promoting the interests of businesswomen.
Nighar Shahid said that growth of women entrepreneurs was very important for sustainable economic development of Pakistan. However, she said that women were facing multiple issues including lack of easy access to finance for establishing businesses. She urged that the government should address the key issues of women entrepreneurs to create more room for them in the economic development of the country. She hoped that the collaboration between ICCI and FWCCI would help in enhancing the role of women in the business field for their better economic empowerment. —TLTP
