Known female entrepreneur Shamim Aftab has been elected unopposed as President of the Islamabad Women’s Chamber of Commerce and Industry (IWCCI).

Rizwana Asif has been elected as Senior Vice President while Rubina Nasir has been voted as Vice President of IWCCI.

Those who were elected for the Executive Committee of the chamber include Naima Ansari, Reem Abbasi, Anila Fatima, Shirin Javed, Ayesha Amanullah, Sajida Anwaar, Samina Akhter, Shama Asufta, Mumtaz Akhter, and Shanaz Parveen.

According to a press release issued here today, Annual General Meeting of the IWCCI was held with chamber’s outgoing president in chair.

During the meeting, keeping in view her services, Ms Shamim Aftab was elected President of the IWCCI. MNA of PML-N Maiza Hameed took oath from the newly elected office bearers. She said that success of nations is linked to women empowerment.

Pakistan has taken a number of laudable steps to empower women but a lot is yet to be done, she added.

Maiza Hameed said that families are healthier, educated and balanced while productivity improves and incomes increase when women are given authority.

Empowering women is key to change and essential to achieving the objective of poverty eradication which can be achieved when gender gap is reduced and common practices of systematic discrimination to women are abandoned, she said.

Speaking at the occasion, Shamim Aftab said that women plays vital role in development of households, society, and the country.

She thanked the participants for reposing confidence in her saying that, “Pakistan can only become a developed nation when women are encouraged and their skills utilised properly.”

Spilling out her priorities, she said that she will assist women so that they can have a voice and become economically empowered.

She lauded the women empowerment initiatives undertaken by the government asking the authorities to do more in this regard.

Aftab said that she would follow the steps of Samina Fazil to work for the promotion of businesswomen.