Ahsand Zafar Bakhtawari, President Islamabad Chamber of Commerce and Industry has underlined the need for devising a comprehensive Sports Policy to turn the tide on a continuous decline of sports in the country. He said this while talking to Deputy Director General (Technical) Pakistan Sports Board Shahid Islam who called on him at Islamabad Chamber of Commerce and Industry the other day. He said that sports industry is playing important role in the economic development of many countries and that government should also strengthen this industry in the country for the better economic growth. He said that there was a time when Squash and Hockey were the distinctions of Pakistan but with the passage of time due to consecutive obliviousness, we have lost our glory in the field, adding that on the gross root level i.e. schools and colleges no attention is being paid on the sports activities.

He said that to overcome this alarming situation, it is incumbent upon the PSB to not only explore employment opportunities for the players in different departments but also encourage sponsorships for the promotion and advancement of the sports activities and that sports based admissions in educational institutions must also be encouraged to a reasonable level.

He went on to say that ICCI will extend every possible cooperation to the PSB for the purpose and that in near future the ICCI is going to organize a seminar on ‘Sports Economy ‘ which will help assemble all the stakeholder under one roof to deliberate and put forward workable recommendations for the growth of the sports in the country.

He further said that ICCI had constituted a Sports Committee to promote sports activities and that PSB should cooperate with this Committee in organizing various sports events in its facilities and that both the organizations should also consider to organize a big event to help promote sports and business activities.

On his part DDG Pakistan Sports Board pledged his full support to the ICCI for the convening of ‘Sports Economy’ seminar by saying that an ICCI Display Centre at Pakistan Sports Board will go a long way in the export of sports products through their exhibition.

He also apprised the participants of the meeting about the initiatives taken by Pakistan Sports Board for the promotion of sports and inspiration of sportsmen in the country.

On this occasion, former President FPCCI Zubair Ahmed Malik, former senior Vice President Khalid Chaudhry, Imtiaz Abbasi, Irfan Chaudhry, Chaudhry Nasir Mehmood, Zafar Iqbal Gujjar and Shahid Abbasi were also present.