Iftikhar Ali Malik assumes charge as SAARC CCI President

ISLAMABAD: Iftikhar Ali Malik has assumed the office of President of SAARC Chamber of Commerce and Industry (SAARC CCI) for a two-year term.

According to a press statement, the out-going President Ruwan Editisinghe handed over the charge at the two-day joint session of the executive committee and the general assembly commenced today through video link.

Vice President (VP) Afghanistan Khairuddin Mayel Ahmadi, VP Bangladesh Mahbubul Alam, Senior Vice President-Designate and former president Dasho Ugen Tsechup Dorji, VP India Vinod Juneja, VP Nepal Chandi Raj Dhakal and VP Sri Lanka Dr. M. Rohitha Silva reposed full confidence in Iftikhar Ali Malik, read the statement.

Speaking on the occasion, Iftikhar Ali Malik thanked the SVP and VPs from all member countries of the South Asian Association for Regional Cooperation (SAARC) for their full-fledged and overwhelming support to him for the promotion of intra trade and further establishing strong business linkages among the entrepreneurs of South Asia.

He said all-out efforts would be made to strengthen regional economic cooperation, besides achieving Chamber South Asia Vision 2030, which would usher an era of progress, prosperity and development in the region.

He said the entire emphasis would be laid on achieving the objectives of the chamber in true letter and spirit with consensus and the VPs of all countries would be taken into confidence.

He paid tributes to Ruwan for contributing towards the encouragement of trade, Industry, small and medium enterprise and agriculture sectors in addition to safeguarding the economic and business interest of the region.

Iftikhar said he would formulate viable strategies to take regional cooperation to new levels for the betterment of the people of the region and strengthening the economies of member states.

The outgoing president Ruwan hoped that the new leadership especially Iftikhar Malik during his tenure would take all the stakeholders on board and make strenuous efforts to implement the objectives and manifesto of the chamber mainly aimed at the promotion of intra-trade among member countries.