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4 FPCCI men

elected to

ECO chamber

posts

RECORDER REPORT

KARACHI: The participation of a five-member delegation of the Federation of Pakistan Chambers of Commerce and Industry (FPCCI) in the third meeting of the executive committee and general assembly of the ECO Chamber of Commerce and Industry, held in Teheran on August 23 & 24, was crowned with great success when four of its members were elected to various posts in the ECO chamber.

S.M. Muneer, President, FPCCI, was elected as Vice-Chairman of the ECO Chamber in recognition of his services in the cause of trade and industry in the region. The very fact that the third meeting of the ECO Chamber which was scheduled to be held in May but had to be postponed because Muneer was not in a position to attend due to his removal from the presidentship of FPCCI, is a tribute to his leadership and recognition of his qualities of interaction with world business leaders.

Majid Sultan Khawaja, was taken on the joint arbitration committee and the two vice-presidents of FPCCI, i.e., Iftikhar Ali Malik and Jamil Mahboob Magoon, will be on the executive board. Magoon was also nominated as Treasurer of the board.

Muneer in his speech at the inaugural session of the executive committee of the ECO Chamber had emphasised that if the 300 million people of this region are to enter the 21st Century with honour and dignity, we must pool all our resources in men and material and work unitedly and devotedly.

The region is rich in natural resources, the climatic conditions are diverse to suit a big variety of agricultural and horticultural products and its people are hardworking, Muneer added. The Treaty of Izmir, Ashkabad Summit Declaration, Quetta Action Plan and the Islamabad Declaration are a proof positive that our governments are alive to the need to make coherent and concerted efforts to enhance cooperation among the governments and the peoples of the region.

He made a particular reference to the statement of the Prime Minister of Pakistan and described it as refreshing. She had stated at the Islamabad Summit that "we now need to mobilise jointly and individually, financial resources as well as managerial and technical skills to secure the implementation of our common objectives."

According to other details about the Teheran meeting available here on Sunday.

On the completion of the term of Union of the Chambers and Commodity exchan ge of Turkey (UCCET) the Chairmanship went to the Iran Chamber of Commerce, Industries and Mines and A.N.S. Khamoushi, President of ICCIM, according to the statute, was elected as the Chairman.

Accordingly S.M. Muneer, President of FPCCI and Riza Aydin, Vice-President of UCCET were elected as Vice-Chairman.

The meeting discussed the Election of the Executi

ve Board and it was decided that the Executive Committee of ECO Chamber will comprise of the Deputy Chairman of the national committees of the member states. It was also decided that the national committees of the new members states which join the ECO Chamber, should nominate their representatives to the Executive Board. The representatives of the Islamic Republic of Iran, the Islamic Republic of Pakistan and the Republic of Turkey will be as follows:

Alla-Mir Mohammad Sadeghi, Islamic Republic of Iran, Iftikhar Ali Malik, Islami Republic of Pakistan, and Erol Ozturk, Republic of Turkey.

(Jamil Mahboob Magoon from Islamic Republic of Pakistan was nominated as Treasurer of the Executive Board).

The host country, Islamic Republic of Iran, nominated M. R. Karbasi for the post of the Secretary General of ECO Chamber who assumed his post from the date of the 3rd Executive Committee i.e. 23 Aug. 1995 for a period of 2 years.

The Republic of Kazakistan, the Republic of Kyrgzistan and the Republic of Azerbaijan had intimated their official request for the membership of the ECO Chamber to the Secretariat of the ECO Chamber. The matter was considered in the meeting and the membership of these three countries in the ECO Chamber were formally accepted. The meeting requested the Secretariat of the ECO Chamber to communicate with other member states and make necessary arrangement with them for their membership in the ECO Chamber.

The following amendment was proposed and adopted unanimously.

The General Assembly of the ECO Chamber is the highest organ of the ECO Chamber and its quorum is composed of at least one-third of the member countries or minimum four countries.

The report of the 2nd meeting of the Executive Committee was considered and following decisions were made:

Members who had not yet applied for their membership in the ECO Chamber were asked to do so accordingly.

New member states who had not yet formed their national committees, were asked to constitute the same. In this regard a delegation composed of the four members namely: Okan Ucer from Republic of Turkey, Majid Sultan Khawaja from Islamic Republic of Paksitan, Mohammad Reza Ketabi from Islamic Republic of Iran, and Mohammad Reza Karbasi Secretary General, ECO Chamber was formed which shall pay a visit to the member states who have not established their national committees as yet. The date of the visit will be fixed within 2 months time and communicated by Okan Ucer.

The ECO Chamber, in order to improve the role of the private sector among the member states, recommended the other ECO organs, including the ECO Secretariat, to consider the concept of inviting the ECO Chamber to different ECO meetings and activities.

The meeting decided to convene its next Executive Committee meeting in the 2nd half of February 1996, in Pakistan. Executive Committee will examine issues such as transfer of technology, feasible investment projects, exchange of information on trade matters including tariffs, border and transit trade, and delegations and training facilities for the new members.

It was agreed that Budget and Expenditures of the ECO Chamber will be postponed until the membership of the new member states to the ECO Chamber and establishment of their national committees is defined. As an interim measure, it was decided that the ECO Chamber will function on the basis of its previous financial arrangement i.e. the host country will assume all the secretariat expenditures.

The ECO Chamber recommended that following committees should be established;

Joint Arbitration Committee on the basis of the experiences and charter of the Arbitration Committee of Organization of Islamic Countries Chamber of Commerce and Industries.

The representatives of the member states for this committee will be: Majid Sultan - Islamic Republic of Pakistan, Mahmood Ahmed - Islamic Republic of Paksistan, Jahanbakhsh Nouraei - Islamic Republic of Iran, and Sohrab Shahabi - Islamic Republic of Iran.

The name from the Republic of Turkey will be communicated later.

Establishment of a Joint Transit Committee for transit trade activities, which is of utmost importance to the region. The representatives of the member states for the subject committee will be: Haji Bashir Ahmed Islamic Republic of Pakistan, Rahmatollah Javid - Islamic Republic of Pakistan, H. Mir Mohammad Ali - Islamic Republic of Iran, and S. Daneshmand - Islamic Republic of Iran. The name from the Republic of Turkey will be communicated later.

All member countries should send in writing the information regarding trade and economic activities of their countries to ECO Chamber Secretariat at least once a month on regular basis. These informations will be enumerated in the news letter of ECO Chamber.