Ahsan Zafar Bakhtawari, President, Islamabad Chamber of Commerce and Industry said that a new slaughterhouse is a longstanding demand of the business community of the meat sector and stressed that the CDA in consultation with the stakeholders should establish a state-of-the-art slaughterhouse in the vicinity of the federal capital to promote trade and exports of meat products. He further said that CDA should consider establishing a separate market for the poultry sector to boost its business activities. He said this while addressing a delegation of the All-Pakistan Jamiat Ul Quresh Meat Welfare Association that visited ICCI led by its President Khursheed Ahmed Qureshi. Javed Qureshi Senior Vice President, Sardar Zaheer Ahmed Secretary General, and others were in the delegation.

Ahsan Bakhtawari said that Pakistan has good potential to export Halal meat products to the Gulf region and many other countries and stressed that the business community should focus on the value-addition of products to improve exports. He assured that the ICCI would cooperate with the Meat Welfare Association to address the key issues of the business community of their sector.

Speaking on the occasion, Khursheed Ahmed Qureshi, President, All-Pakistan Jamiat Ul Quresh Meat Welfare Association briefed the President ICCI about the key issues being faced by the business community of the meat sector and hoped that ICCI would take up them with relevant authorities for redress. He stressed the need for a new slaughterhouse for the federal capital and urged that the government should focus on resolving the issues of the poultry sector. He said that the livestock sector plays an important role in the economy as it contributes over 60 percent to agriculture, and over 11 percent to GDP, as well as provides livelihood to rural families as they derive 35-40 percent of their income from this source. He stressed that the government should cooperate in the value addition of the livestock sector that would help boost its exports and contribute more effectively to reviving the economy. Ajmal Baloch, President, All-Pakistan Anjuman-e-Tajiran, and others also spoke on the occasion and emphasized that the government should focus on resolving the issues of livestock and poultry sectors to facilitate better growth of their business activities and exports.