'Overseas Pakistanis Invested Rs 12b Towards Community Support Activities In 2021-22'

ISLAMABAD, Feb 9 (UrduPoint / Pakistan Point News - 9th Feb, 2023 ) :The Overseas Pakistanis invested Rs 12 billion towards the community support activities during the year 2021-22, Overseas Investors Chamber of Commerce and Industry (OICCI), the collective voice of top foreign investors in Pakistan revealed in its annual "Corporate Social Responsibly ( CSR) Report 2022" on Thursday.

The CSR survey results once again reaffirmed OICCI members' commitment in support of the socio-economic development of the communities in which they operate in Pakistan.

The OICCI CSR Report 2022 reflects, in brief, the essence of the CSR activities of OICCI members who during 2021-22, collectively, invested over PKR 12 billion (2020-21: PKR 11 billion) on CSR related activities, and reached out to around 46 million direct beneficiaries throughout Pakistan. OICCI members and their employees also contributed 1.5 million man-hours and partnered with over 280 social and development sector organizations in fulfilling their unique CSR programs.

President OICCI Ghias Khan, commenting on the CSR initiatives of OICCI members remarked, "OICCI members, led by example during the COVID pandemic, and have also shown their commitments towards mitigating the suffering of the 2022 flood victims by actively participating in relief activities as well as announcing generous commitments of around Rs. 9 billion, in addition to their CSR contributions of Rs 12 billion. "Besides financial contribution, Ghias Khan added, "OICCI was the first chamber in Pakistan to have organized in March 2022 an international Climate Conference highlighting the need to take proactive actions to protect the life and livelihood of the people from negative affects of global warming " .

Throughout the year 2022, the OICCI members participated in numerous philanthropic projects, divergent from the traditional CSR activities, to show their commitment towards paying back to society, in collaboration with key social sector partners. These social initiatives were focused on society's betterment, including various dedicated programs to improve upon the education, healthcare, livelihood, infrastructural development, and environmental sustainability sectors.

Commenting on foreign investors' commitment towards UN SDGs (Sustainable Development Goals), OICCI's Vice President Amir Paracha stated that an overwhelming 89 percent of the OICCI participating OICCI members focused on health and well-being, and actively supported health and nutrition related initiatives through donations to reputable hospitals, medical care camps and health awareness campaigns." Further, Amir Paracha added "over 75 percent of participating members contributed towards quality education by funding for improved Primary and secondary school facilities, scholarships, and various vocational training programs for skills development. Moreover, about two-thirds of the participating members focused on Gender Equality to promote women empowerment activities and actively pursued the "OICCI Women" initiative. " The geographic distribution of the CSR activities was spread towards all the four provinces of Pakistan, including Azad Kashmir, FATA, and Gilgit-Baltistan. About one-third of CSR activities were focused on Sindh and another 28 percent in Punjab.

The OICCI is the collective voice of major foreign investors in Pakistan. The over 200 OICCI members, from 31 different countries, have a presence in 14 sectors of the economy and contribute around one-third of Pakistan's total tax revenue, besides facilitating transfer of technology and skills and providing employment to a sizeable number of people.

About a third of OICCI member companies are listed on the pakistan stock exchange, and 40 members are associates of the Global Fortune 500 companies. Besides their business operations, the OICCI members realize their corporate social responsibilities and are major contributors to various CSR activities benefiting 46 million persons from underprivileged communities.