SM Tanveer raises alarm over bill to amend trade organisation rules

LAHORE (Dunya News) – FPCCI leader and Patron-in-Chief of UBG, SM Tanveer, has expressed serious concern over a bill tabled in the National Assembly seeking to amend the Trade Organisation Rules (TORs) 2013.

Speaking to Khalid Tawab, Regional Chairman UBG Sindh, he warned that any change in the law could lead to the closure of numerous representative bodies across the country.

Tanveer said the move has caused widespread concern in the business community, noting that the business environment is already fragile due to internal and external trade barriers. “[The] Chambers of Commerce and Industry are the last refuge of the business community where they can raise their concerns and voices for collective good,” he said.

He cautioned that confining trade bodies to municipal city limits could exclude industrial estates, SME clusters in tehsils, and rural export-oriented businesses from proper representation.

SM Tanveer emphasised that altering the TORs 2013 would cause massive discouragement and disappointment, severely affecting trade bodies representing women entrepreneurs and small and medium enterprises. He warned that the proposed legislation would eliminate district-level chambers, erasing an institutional structure built over years and devastating district economies.

Highlighting the importance of district chambers, he said they play a vital role in shaping local economies, following global practices of developing business clusters for economic growth. “The movers of this idea are planning to reverse this theory in Pakistan to serve their vested interests,” Tanveer lamented.

The Patron-in-Chief UBG urged lawmakers to reject the bill, allowing district chambers to continue serving as the backbone of the economy. He warned that eliminating them would devastate small and medium enterprises, which lack the resources to be represented at the city chamber level.