Businesses urged to become environment-friendly

LAHORE: The Lahore Chamber of Commerce & Industry (LCCI) has urged the business community to focus on environmental standards in order to penetrate the European Union (EU) market, a statement said on Friday.
While talking to a delegation, the LCCI president Ijaz A. Mumtaz said now the entire scenario has changed as the world has become a global village and environmental issues can easily damage the economy of any country because all major countries including European Union have set very strict environmental standards and are reluctant to import goods, specially food, from countries facing the environmental problems.
He said businessmen would have to be environmental standards compliant if they want to do business with the rest of the world.
The LCCI is making efforts to equip its member with the latest technologies through language, web courses, workshops and seminars so that they can get a respectable place in the world market, he added.
The country cannot afford to lose EU which is one of the biggest markets for the Pakistani merchandise. He emphasized to launch a campaign to create awareness amongst the people as environmental issues can inflict heavy damage to the national economy and particularly the exports to the European Union.
The LCCI President said deforestation is one of the biggest reasons of environmental issues in Pakistan as they not only control the pollution but also control the temperature. Deforestation in Pakistan has caused a rapid rise in the pollution level and distortion of natural order, he added.
Fast changing global economic scenario has provided us with an opportunity to increase our exports to the desired levels but the desired goal cannot be achieved without having compliance with the international environmental standards, the LCCI president said.