Muhammad Ahmed Waheed President, Tahir Abbasi Senior Vice President and Saif ur Rehman Khan Vice President, Islamabad Chamber of Commerce & Industry (ICCI) and Mian Akram Farid Chairman Founder Group have congratulated Iftikhar Ali Malik on taking over charge as President and Zubair Ahmed Malik as Executive Member, SAARC Chamber of Commerce & Industry and hoped that they would play role for further enhancing trade and economic relations among SAARC member states. They said that Iftikhar Ali Malik was a very experienced and seasoned businessman and his election as President SAARC CCI was an honor for Pakistan and a very positive development as he would utilize his abilities and experiences to bring all the SAARC countries further closer and help them increase trade among the SAARC member states. Muhammad Ahmed Waheed said that Iftikhar Ali Malik has rendered outstanding services for the business community of Pakistan in various capacities including as President Lahore Chamber of Commerce & Industry, President FPCCI and Executive Member SAARC CCI. He said elevation of Iftikhar Ali Malik as President SAARC Chamber would be beneficial for the economy of Pakistan as he would play role for enhancing Pakistan’s trade and exports with SAARC region. ICCI President said that SAARC region has great potential for promoting intra-regional trade as it was a big market with a population of nearly 1.7 billion. However, SAARC Region was lacking in regional integration due to which it could not exploit its actual economic potential. He said that SAARC region needed an investment-friendly environment to promote regional trade. He was of the view that if appropriate steps were taken to remove trade barriers and streamline custom procedures, intra-regional trade in SAARC countries could be increased from current USD 28 billion to over USD 100 billion in few years. He was hopeful that Iftikhar Ali Malik would utilize his position to work for addressing these issues in cooperation of SAARC governments to realize the actual trade potential of SAARC region. He assured that ICCI would extend all possible cooperation to him in his endeavours aimed at further enhancing Pakistan’s trade and exports with SAARC member states. Former Presidents ICCI including Khalid Javed, Abdul Rauf Alam, Tariq Sadiq, Mian Shaukat Masud, Khalid Iqbal Malik, Muhammad Ejaz Abbasi, Zafar Bakhtawari, Ahmed Hassan Moughal, Sheikh Atif Ikram as well as Malik Sohail Hussain Chairman Coordination SAARC CCI, Khalid Chaudhry and others also congratulated Iftikhar Ali Malik for assuming charge as President and Zubair Ahmed Malik as Executive Member SAARC CCI and expressed best wishes for them.