Islamabad :The business community during a meeting at Islamabad Chamber of Commerce & Industry (ICCI) expressed great concerns over the Russian-Ukraine conflict that carries great risks to the economies of the world and called for resolving this crisis through talks to save the global economy from its serious consequences.

Addressing the meeting, Muhammad Shakeel Munir, President, Islamabad Chamber of Commerce & Industry said that the global economy was still struggling to come out of the impact of Covid-19 pandemic, but this crisis has unleashed new challenges for the world as the oil prices in the international market has already started to move up while the global prices of energy, food commodities and many other items would also become more expansive that would give rise to global inflation and make the lives of common man more miserable.

ICCI President said that any disruption in the flow of gas, oil and trade in the conflict zone would have a major impact on almost all countries of the world and add further fuel to the food inflation at global level. He said that the businesses and people in Pakistan have already started to feel the economic fallout of this conflict, just like people elsewhere in the world. He appealed to the United Nations and the world leaders to play a role in finding a peaceful settlement of this conflict through talks and negotiations in order to save the world from its devastating consequences.

Muhammad Shakeel Munir said that Europe was importing close to 40% of its natural gas from Russia and Europe was also a big market for Pakistani textiles and other products. So any disruption in that energy source would affect the economies of Europe that would have a major fallout on Pakistani exports. He said that the Central Asian region including the Russian Federation was a huge market for Pakistan to improve trade and exports. So Pakistan should work with the global community to consider all peaceful options for ending this crisis as soon as possible in order to keep the global trade channels open and curb the further escalation in the world energy and food prices.