Muhammad Jawed Bilwani, Zia ul Arfeen, and Faisal Khalil were elected President, Senior Vice President, and Vice President of the Karachi Chamber of Commerce & Industry (KCCI) for 2024-26 at the 63rd Annual General Meeting held at KCCI’s Auditorium.
Chairman Businessmen Group (BMG) Zubair Motiwala, Vice Chairmen BMG Anjum Nisar and Mian Abrar Ahmed, General Secretary BMG AQ Khalil, newly elected President Jawed Bilwani, freshly elected Senior Vice President Zia ul Arfeen, newly elected Vice President Faisal Khalil, Retiring President Iftikhar Ahmed Sheikh, Retiring Senior Vice President Altaf A. Ghaffar and Retiring Vice President Tanveer Ahmed Barry, Former Presidents, Managing Committee Members and a large number of general body members were also present at the AGM.
Speaking on the occasion, Chairman BMG Zubair Motiwala stated that it was truly a rejoicing day for all the BMGIANs as this year’s results of the election indicate that BMG continues to enjoy the overwhelming support of majority of the business community, including all seven industrial town associations, sector-specific trade bodies, exports associations, community associations and many others who strongly believe that BMG is the only group which is capable of getting Karachi’s issues amicably resolved. “We have won this year’s elections with an exceptional margin of 82 percent whereas our opponents were able to fetch just 18 percent which makes us proud”, he said while thanking all BMG supporters, particularly the small traders, besides appreciating the efforts made by all BMGIANs who did a splendid job to ensure yet another victory for BMG.
Commenting on the performance of retiring Office Bearers, Chairman BMG appreciated Iftikhar Sheikh for efficiently highlighting the problems being faced by Karachi in front of the Prime Minister, Federal Ministers, Chairman FBR, and other dignitaries who visited KCCI during his tenure. “All retiring Office Bearers deserve to be praised for doing a great job by smoothly carrying out KCCI’s affairs”, he said while referring to some of the initiatives taken by the Senior Vice President for digitalizing the records of KCCI’s Finance and Attestation Departments. “We plan to make KCCI completely paperless and progressing well.”
Zubair Motiwala further mentioned that a 10-member think-tank comprising three PHDs, Energy Experts, a Chartered Accountant, and others has been established at KCCI who are carrying out extensive research and giving valuable suggestions on how to deal with numerous economic issues efficiently. “It is one of the notable achievements that KCCI’s Research Center is currently working on formulating the industrial policy for Nigeria and Kenya, whereas the SIFC and the organizers of the IDEAS exhibition intend to avail of the services of our research centre.”
Referring to Mian Abrar Ahmed’s suggestion about establishing KCCI’s own University, he said that the Karachi Chamber was already working on this project as the Chamber is a member of the Board of NUTECH University’s Karachi Campus. “Land for setting up NUTECH University in Karachi has already been acquired, and we are currently pursuing the release of funds from EDF for this purpose”, he said, adding that NUTECH University, which the Pakistan Army governs, is an excellent university with a sole motto of enhancing the exports. It is a university capable of changing Pakistan’s economic landscape.
Underscoring the need for collective efforts, he urged all the BMGIANs, particularly the newly elected members of the Managing Committee and the Office Bearers, to ensure maximum participation in KCCI meetings so that effective strategies could be devised for convincing the government to pay maximum attention to the legitimate demands of Karachi’s business community.
While paying glowing tribute to founder Chairman BMG Late Siraj Kassam Teli for his tireless efforts to uplift Karachi and its business community, Zubair Motiwala said that all the achievements and positions attained by Karachi Chamber can only be attributed to Late Siraj Teli, who will always be remembered for building a strong foundation of Businessmen Group and for his matchless services to the business community and society.
He pledged that the new Office Bearers will, Insha Allah, try their best to resolve all the pending issues concerning federal and provincial governments. He also emphasized that new office bearers should initiate work on the construction of KCCI’s new building. Special attention must also be paid to the issues faced by small traders, shopkeepers, and SMEs, who are the backbone of the country’s economy.
On the occasion, Vice Chairman BMG Anjum Nisar stated that retiring Office Bearers have done an excellent job and was fairly optimistic that, keeping in view the dynamism of Jawed Bilwani, the newly elected team will be able to perform even better than their predecessors. “Focus should be on bringing in and encouraging new entrepreneurs, and efforts must also be made to ensure that the wheels of industries continue to spin without interruption. Although Jawed Bilwani is the team leader, he won’t be able to deliver alone, hence, all industrial town associations and the rest of the business community should fully support him in his quest so that we could fulfill all the doable commitments made to the business community during the election campaign.”
Vice Chairman BMG Mian Abrar Ahmed, in his remarks, suggested that the Karachi Chamber should look into the possibility of setting up its university, which would certainly prove favourable not only for the industries but also for the citizens of this city. He said that most of the developed countries worldwide have energy and food security plans, which, unfortunately, are missing in Pakistan. “The National Energy and Food Security Plan is desperately needed to overcome Pakistan’s future needs, which KCCI must vocally demand during its meetings with the Prime Minister and others.”
General Secretary BMG AQ Khalil, while paying glowing tribute to retiring Office Bearers who performed very well in an extremely challenging environment, stated that the federal government, including the policymakers and other bureaucrats in Islamabad, were least bothered about the problems of Karachi and were only worried about their incentives. “In this scenario, the Karachi Chamber will have to make extraordinary efforts to ensure that the revenue generated by Karachi is not being wasted on unnecessary expenditures by the federation. The new incumbents will have to strive hard to fight for the rights of Karachi, whereas the leadership is always standing right behind them to support them fully”, he added.
While pledging to work rigorously with extraordinary zeal along with his 30-member managing committee, newly elected President Jawed Bilwani sought the full support and cooperation of the entire business community so that the government could be compelled to resolve genuine issues being faced by the business community for a long. “We want to give a clear and loud message to the federal as well as provincial governments that we will continue to fight for our rights, so if I ask you to fully support us even if we announce to stage protests or go for strikes, are you going to stand shoulder-to-shoulder with us?”, he asked the General Body Members who assured to support Bilwani’s plan of action fully.
He also appreciated the Election Commission and KCCI staff for transparently holding the Chamber’s elections, besides thanking the voters for supporting BMG in the polls. He even thanked the opponents for contesting in the elections, which provided them with an opportunity to approach all the commercial markets of the city which assured support to BMG but demanded that the Karachi Chamber always give top priority to a host of issues being faced by them.
Retiring President Iftikhar Ahmed Sheikh, while highlighting the overall activities and the achievements during his tenure, appreciated the support and cooperation extended by Chairman BMG Zubair Motiwala, all Vice Chairmen, and General Secretary BMG that helped to a great extent in dealing with numerous issues throughout the year.
