KARACHI: The Union of Small and Medium Enterprises (Unisame) has urged Prime Minister Imran Khan to appoint a chairman of the Intellectual Property Organisation (IPO) Pakistan, a statement said on Tuesday.

The seat of the IPO chairman remains vacant since the retirement of Mujeeb Ahmed Khan in June 2021.

Unisame president Zulfikar Thaver said that an organisation like IPO should not remain without a chairman for so long, as intellectual property rights are an economic tool and, especially when extremely important matters are being discussed in the international and regional fora.

Thaver suggested that the chairman to be a technocrat and not a bureaucrat, saying that the IPO chairman this time needs to be an expert in intellectual property rights who knows the subject in and out to lead this important organisation to face international challenges and lawsuits.

He urged the executive director of IPO Pakistan Meesaq Arif, to expedite the applications and matters of geographical indications (GI) of popular items known for their extraordinary specialties and features by virtue of their geographical origin and merit to enable promotion of exports of goods under GI tag.

The Unisame Council also urged the PM to facilitate and support the processors of GI items by giving them international exposure to exhibit their products in global markets.