August 31, 2016
President Pakistan Businessmen and Intellectuals Forum (PBIF), President AKIA, Senior Vice Chairman of the Businessmen Panel of FPCCI and former provincial minister Mian Zahid Hussain on Wednesday said India has declined visa for all the organisers and participants of Alishan Pakistan – the third edition of the lifestyle Pakistan exhibition which was scheduled to be held at New Delhi in September.
The development has resulted in collective losses to the tune of millions of dollars to Pakistani entrepreneurs who booked hundreds of stalls for the four-day expo and sent their merchandise/items in containers to India.
Mian Zahid Hussain said that the TDAP which organised the event, is also being blamed for the mismanagement as the expo was announced to be held from Sept 01 to Sept 04 and stalls were given to businesswomen at a price of Rs 2,75,000 while couture lounge was booked at Rs 5,00,000/.
Pakistani products, especially women’s clothing have become very popular in India because of their high quality and design that is why Pakistani women invested heavily in the event only to know that the date of event has been extended to the month of October and later the expo has been cancelled, he added.
He said that many companies and individual women entrepreneurs have been reported to be restless and disappointed as they have to bear losses and heavy expenditure to recalling their merchandise/items from India.
Who will help them overcome huge loss that business community of Pakistan has suffered due to the mismanagement of TDAP to deliver and to take proper decisions, he questioned.
Pakistani businessmen have lost an excellent opportunity for business-to-business meetings, trade diplomacy and chance to showcase their products in New Delhi to access India’s middle-class market of 600 million people.
He said that CEO TDAP has been unable to deliver as he prefer trade politics over his job and national interests. His decisions are frequently criticised for keeping personal interests supreme over the national interests which is a reason behind drop in national exports during his tenure.
