Women in Italy were playing their full role in business: Ambassador Andreas Ferrarese

Islamabad: Ambassador of Italy to Pakistan Andreas Ferrarese said on Monday that women in Italy were playing their full role in business.

Speaking at the concluding session of a conference organized by Faisalabad Women’s Chamber of Commerce and Industry (FWCCI), the Ambassador said that Italy would extend all possible cooperation to Pakistani women for raising awareness on business and other issues?

“We can provide full support to engage Pakistani businesswomen in our business sector,” he said.

Speaking on the occasion, the Ambassador Portugal Paula Neves Pocinho said that economic empowerment of women is essential for the development of any society.

He said that women in Pakistan are very hardworking and skilled who can face all kinds of challenges? On the occasion, the Acting Ambassador of Malaysia Deddy Faisal Ahmed Salleh said that the Faisalabad Chamber of Commerce has crossed a milestone by holding this conference today.

President Faisalabad Women Chamber of Commerce and Industry (FWCCI), Ms Nighat Shahid said that the Chamber’s main focus had been to promote women entrepreneurs particularly young entrepreneurs for new start-ups in order to drive economic growth.

She said our Chamber has simultaneously focused on capacity building of women businesses by skill development to achieve best productivity and competitiveness in the emerging business scenario. President FWCCI said for the first time in the history of the country, we have organized the All-Women Chambers Presidents Conference on 15th Nov, 2021.

She also demanded easy and soft loans from State Bank of Pakistan (SBP) and said that SBP, facilitation desks were also required in all women’s chambers. Taking on the benefit of Trade Development Heads, she said that our emphasis is to facilitate women entrepreneurs and also to visit potential foreign markets to explore export opportunities.

Nighat emphasized that women have huge potential to work in different sectors of the economy including trade. Speaking on the occasion, various chambers of commerce including senior businessmen said that women have a very important role to play in the business community of Pakistan without which the dream of economic development of the country is unfulfilled.

Addressing the function on the occasion, senior business leader Zubair Motiwala said that economic empowerment of women was very important and linked to economic and social development of the country. He said that women were playing their unique role in the industrial sector and business organization in the country which would go down in history. He said that document economy is very important in the country and also a charter of economy should be signed in the country. Speaking on the occasion, Senior Business Leader and Industry Mian Javed Iqbal said that women want to set goals in business so that they can move forward in business. He said that women were facing many challenges which they were determined to face. “Training is essential for women’s business, which will help them understand modern business,” she said. Speaking on the occasion, Nadeem Chaudhry, President, Rawalpindi Chamber of Commerce and Industries said that the dream of modern economic development was impossible without women and women are now playing a vital role in business.

“Women are now an important part of the global economy, innovating in modern businesses,” he said. Shakeel Munir, President, Islamabad Chamber of Commerce and Industries, said that women constitute 50% of our population and economic development of the country is not possible without employing them.

He said that women’s chambers need to play a stronger role in further engaging women in business. He said that at present there are 15 chambers of commerce for women in the country which have to do their utmost for the development of women. Foreign diplomats and Ambassadors of various countries including Italy, Portugal, Malaysia, Jordan, Kyrgyzstan, Azerbaijan, Palestine, Vietnam and Thailand addressed the Conference.

“Our embassy is ready to cooperate with all the Women’s Chambers. On the occasion, the Ambassador of Kyrgyzstan Ulanbek Totuiaev said that trade and economic cooperation between Pakistan and Central Asian countries is very important.

He said that women in Kyrgyzstan are playing their dynamic role in trade and their contacts with local women are very important. Speaking on the occasion, the Ambassador of Thailand to Pakistan, Chakkrid Krachaiwong said that the women workforce in Thailand was playing a very important role in the country’s economy. He said that a large part of our tourism industry had been taken over by women which has enabled growth in the national economy.

The Ambassador of Vietnam to Pakistan, Nguyen Tien Phong said that the role of Pakistani women in the development of the country is very important. The Vietnam embassy in Islamabad assured women traders of its full support. On this occasion, the diplomat from Jordan, Dr Maen Khareasat said that there was need for full coordination between Pakistan and Jordanian women businessmen.

On the occasion, Waseem Chaudhry, Representative of the Indonesian Embassy in Islamabad, said that Indonesia was ready for all possible cooperation and technical assistance with the local women chambers.