RAWALPINDI: The Pakistan government plans to set up a market exclusively for women entrepreneurs in the federal capital where they will be able to promote and sell their products, a senior interior ministry official said on Friday.
The decision was made on Thursday after interior minister Sheikh Rashid Ahmed met a delegation from the Islamabad Women Chamber of Commerce and Industry (IWCCI) and acknowledged the necessity of including women in economic activity in the country.
“Yes, a market exclusively for women is coming,” an interior ministry spokesperson told Arab News, declining to provide a formal launch date for the project.
Samina Fazil, the founding president of the IWCCI, said it was a “much needed” development which was likely to have a positive economic impact.
“There is no place in Islamabad for women to do business,” she said, adding that high rents at commercial plazas kept women home-bound and forced independent businesses owned by women out of the mainstream.
“These rents are so high that they are not affordable to women who work with their own hands within the confines of their homes,” Fazil added.
She said things had become even more difficult for businesswomen during the coronavirus pandemic since exhibitions and expo events had been cancelled across the country.
“This is why we want a place where women can comfortably run their businesses and sell their wares,” she said.
The IWCCI president said her organization had been communicating with various state institutions and had ultimately reached out to the interior minister to ask for a market area for women entrepreneurs.
“We have now spoken to the Capital Development Authority chairman and asked him if he can do something about this,” she said. “We are hopeful he will get us a place where we will be able to establish a women’s bazaar.”
Fazil added that a market that promoted women-owned businesses would also open new possibilities for young girls and inspire them to become economically independent.
“The market is just the beginning,” she said, adding the initiative was likely to have a positive socio economic impact.
Pakistan plans to set up exclusive market for women entrepreneurs in Islamabad
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Pakistan plans to set up exclusive market for women entrepreneurs in Islamabad
- President Islamabad Women Chamber of Commerce says most businesswomen cannot afford high rents at commercial plazas
- Women-owned businesses have suffered during pandemic as exhibitions and expo events were cancelled across Pakistan
Bangladesh leader pushes for SAARC revival after meeting Indian, Pakistani dignitaries
- Muhammad Yunus met Pakistan’s parliamentary speaker, Indian FM at Khaleda Zia’s funeral on Wednesday
- SAARC has been dysfunctional since 2016, after India withdrew following a militant attack it blamed on Islamabad
ISLAMABAD: Bangladesh Chief Adviser Muhammad Younus this week pushed for reviving the South Asian Association for Regional Cooperation (SAARC) platform after meeting dignitaries from India, Pakistan and other parts of the region.
SAARC has been effectively dysfunctional since 2016, when its planned Islamabad summit collapsed after India withdrew following a militant attack it blamed on Pakistan. Islamabad denied involvement, but New Delhi’s decision prompted Afghanistan, Bangladesh and Bhutan to pull out, leading to the indefinite postponement of the summit.
Younus met Pakistan’s National Assembly Speaker Ayaz Sadiq and Indian External Affairs Minister Subrahmanyam Jaishankar at former Bangladesh premier Khaleda Zia’s state funeral in Dhaka on Wednesday. The funeral also saw a handshake between the Indian and Pakistani representatives, the first high-level contact between officials of the two countries since their conflict in May.
“During the meetings, Professor Yunus repeatedly emphasized the need to revive the South Asian Association for Regional Cooperation (SAARC),” Yunus’ account on social media platform X said.
“We witnessed a true SAARC spirit at the funeral yesterday,” the account quoted Yunus as saying. “SAARC is still alive. The SAARC spirit is still alive.”
The Bangladesh leader said apart from Jaishankar and Sadiq, representatives from South Asia who attended the funeral included Nepal’s Foreign Minister Bala Nanda Sharma, Sri Lanka’s Minister of Foreign Affairs, Employment and Tourism Vijitha Herath, and Maldives Minister of Higher Education and Labor Ali Haider Ahmed.
Yunus said he tried to convene an informal gathering of SAARC leaders on the sidelines of the UN General Assembly in New York last year.
His statement to revive SAARC follows that of Pakistan’s Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif, who earlier this month also called for reviving the South Asian platform.
Sharif’s message last month came as the bloc marked the 40th anniversary of its founding charter. The Pakistani premier stressed the importance of deeper economic collaboration and collective responses to shared regional challenges such as poverty, climate-induced natural disasters, food and energy insecurity, and public-health vulnerabilities.
