Karachi, November 4, 2015: In a launch event yesterday, the Pakistan Business Council (PBC) announced the holding of the 3rd Edition of the Pakistan Economic Forum (PEF) in Karachi on the 19th of November. The PEF is modeled along the lines of the World Economic Forum (WEF) held every year in Switzerland. Like with the WEF event, the PEF also has panels which debate and make recommendations for the major socio-economic issues, in this case being faced by Pakistan. The panelists comprise Pakistan’s intellectual elite who have been given a mandate to recommend what is good for Pakistan and for Pakistanis.

On the issue of the independence of the panels, the PBC Chairman Mr. Bashir Ali Mohammad (who is also Chairman of Gul Ahmed) noted “though the PBC sponsors the PEF event, it encourages the panelists to take an independent view on major issues and recommend what is good for Pakistan. There have been instances in the past where some of the PBC members have not agreed with some panel recommendations, however at no time has PBC tried to influence the recommendations of any panel”.

On the credentials of the panelists, Mr. Atif Aslam Bajwa (Vice Chairman of PBC and President Bank Alfalah) noted “there can be no doubt on the quality of the panelists assembled for this event, two former governors of the State Bank of Pakistan, one former Finance Minister of Pakistan, one former Chairman of WAPDA, one former Chairman OGDCL, current CEOs of leading banks, power companies, oil companies, and large scale manufacturing units are just some of the panelists. This really is a collection of Pakistan’s intellectual and industry elite”.

Mr. Ali S Habib (a former Chairman of the PBC and the current Chairman of Indus Motors) said “the PEF is a part of the PBC’s efforts to create a national consensus on the major socio-economic issues facing Pakistan. The National Economic Agenda (NEA) which is formulated and propagated as a consensus document by the PBC is derived from the recommendations of the PEF. The PEF is a unique event in that the emphasis is on ‘solutions for Pakistan by Pakistanis’.

Mr. Kamran Y Mirza (CEO of the PBC) said “the PBC will be inviting relevant stakeholders to the PEF event to ensure an interaction between them and the panelists to fine-tune the panel recommendations. He hoped that individuals who have received invitations to the event will take the time out to attend and contribute to this major national consensus building exercise”.

The PBC is a not-for-profit private sector funded Section 42 company representing the largest business groups in the country. The PBC member companies who have substantial investments in Pakistan strive to create an environment conducive to increasing the competitiveness of Pakistani industry both domestically as well as globally. For PBC companies, the human development of Pakistan is a major focus.

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