MULTAN,Oct 8 th: Sheikh Fazal Elahi, President of Multan Chamber of Commerce and Industry (MCCI) has said that government should make all out sincere efforts to ensure doing business easy in Pakistan.Utility tariff and mark-up rates must be reduced to cut the cost of production.Addessing a maiden meeting of executive committee of MCCI here today,Sheikh Fazal Elahi said that Pakistan has all resources to become an economic leader. Economic situation would be quite good once ease of doing business was improved in Pakistan. He said that importance of businesses could not be undermined for economic development as they provide jobs to the growing population, generate revenue and attract foreign investment to the country which not only provides employment but also brings new technologies.MCCI Chief said that we need a simple, transparent and single tax system to build public confidence in its taxation regime,index for encouraging foreign investment so that taxpayers could understand what they were paying for and they should also be helped understand the benefits of paying taxes.He was of the view that there were different tax rates at federation and provinces level that were creating problems for business community and emphasized that government should make changes in this system across the country.He said the government should ensure better benefits, incentives and respect for taxpayers that would help in expanding tax base in the country. Sheikh Fazal Elahi,while commenting on the demands of traders,said that Government must redress their grievances in the larger national interest.He said that the MCCI has done a lot of work for ease of doing business( EOBD). The MCCI had already started work on EODB and brought this important factor to main streamline. They urged making collective efforts to become economically strong country.The participants were informed that Khurram Javed Secretary General of MCCI has resigned for his personal reasons and his resignation was accepted. The Executive body formally appointed Muhammad Shafiq as acting Secretary General of MCCI. The meeting was attended by Senior Vice President Mian Rashid Iqbal, Khawaja Muhammad Yousaf, Mian Tanvir'A Sheikh, Farid Mughis Sheikh, Ishtiaq Chughtai, Muhammad Sarfraz, Muhammad Khan Saddozai, Khawaja Badar Munir, Khawaja Muhammad Usman, Khawaja Muhammad Hussain, Sheikh Muhammad Amjad, Iftikhar Ali Shah, Aqueel Ijaz Ansari,Azhar Baloch ,Khawaja Riaz , Sheikh Faheem Sattar,Malik Shakil Arain, Sheikh Muhammad Yasin, Abdul Rehman Qureshi and Khawaja Mansoor Ahmed.
