The OICCI (Overseas Investors Chamber of Commerce and Industry) has several sub-committees dedicated to specific areas. These sub-committees play a vital role in addressing key issues and providing expertise in their respective fields and focuses on its designated area and collaborates to develop recommendations and strategies related to their respective fields.
The Subcommittee was established to focus exclusively on revamping OICCI’s perception and communications. The subcommittee aims to work extensively on the profile building of OICCI to make it the foremost and top-of-the-mind recall for consultation on governmental stakeholders.
The Subcommittee works extensively on women inclusion and highlights the thought leadership shown by OICCI members in leading the Diversity and Inclusion agenda. Key accomplishments under this Subcommittee include the annual Women Empowerment Awards in its sixth edition this year, and the Diversity and Inclusion Handbook 2022 which shared members’ D&I policies for other organizations to mold and implement to better their D&I journey.
The subcommittee has representation from OICCI members who are engaged in the energy value chain including Upstream (Oil & Gas exploration, production, and mining), Downstream (refining and distribution), Power (coal and thermal generation, transmission and distribution), and Renewables. The key focus of the committee is to assist the government in streamlining Pakistan’s energy mix and to explore the opportunities within energy transition of the country to accelerate economic growth.
The subcommittee is focused on highlightting the best practices of OICCI members in the Environmental (E), Social (S) and Governance (G) spectrum, also, creating an awareness about the challenges of climate change that Pakistan and the world are facing. The subcommittee work closely with the Ministry of Climate Change, Securities and Exchange Commission of Pakistan (SECP), Pakistan Stock Exchange (PSX) and other key stakeholders to build resilience among businesses and society.
Keeping in view the importance of IT and digitization for economic growth, the OICCI decided to form a separate IT subcommittee this year 2023. The subcommittee will be looking after the implementation of the recommendations of OICCI Digital Report 2022 and working closely with regulatory bodies on refining and implementing (Cloud, National Artificial Intelligence (AI)) policies, raising voice to resolve the issue of small IT companies and startups. The subcommittee will also be working jointly with academia to uplift the quality of human resources in this field.
The OICCI Regulatory, subcommittee is focused on highlighting regulatory and Intellectual Property Rights (IPR) related issues. The subcommittee is in regular interaction with Board of Investment (BOI), Securities and Exchange Commission of Pakistan (SECP), Competition Commission of Pakistan (CCP), Intellectual Property Organization of Pakistan (IPOP) and other key regulatory bodies and conduct annual surveys to assess the IPR environment and share findings and suggestions with key stakeholders. Similarly, they also submit proposals on reforming the regulatory regime to help streamline it and make it more business-friendly and help attract FDI in Pakistan
The subcommittee is dedicated to highlighting and proactively resolving members’ security concerns through active engagement and interaction with senior officials of Law Enforcement Agencies (LEAs). The subcommittee arranges security awareness sessions and invites Regional/Head Office experts of member companies for knowledge sharing and independent views on evolving local, regional, and global security perspectives. The main objective of the subcommittee is to project Pakistan’s security status to all stakeholders by conducting and circulating an annual Security Survey to stakeholders (media, foreign missions, corporate world, and others). The survey aims to bridge the gap between perception and ground realities in Pakistan and identifying which city or region is better for international visitors and business investment.
The subcommittee is primarily focused on submitting the comprehensive proposals to streamline the taxation regime, make it less cumbersome, facilitate investors through various recommendations aimed at Ease of Doing Business and remove anomalies such as Turnover tax and the complicated Withholding tax regime. Ensure OICCI permanent representation on different technical/ policy committees of government and to build cordial relationship with Ministry of Finance, Federal and Provincial Board of Revenues. On behalf of OICCI members, timely taking up their key concerns subsequent to the announcement of fiscal budget to resolve the tax anomalies impacting the businesses and economy through effective interactions with the authorities.
The Subcommittee is focused on industrial growth, trade, and agricultural productivity. It aims to improve the industrial and investment climate and enhance FDI, cushion the trade deficit by extensively working on sectors with export potential and high impact import substitution, along with focusing on improving agricultural productivity to improve the food security of Pakistan.