Organisers of this Convention Ladies and Gentlemen

Assalam-o-Alaikum

I am immensely pleased to be here amongst the luminaries of my community, but before proceeding further let me extend my heartiest congratulations to the organisers of this Memon International Convention who have taken great pains in accomplishing this gigantic task.

I am aware that this audience is comprised of such dignitaries of the Memon community as business tycoons of renown, dedicated professionals, philanthropists acknowledged financial wizards, globally lauded social workers, reputed researchers in various faculties and above all the respectable elders of the Memon community drawn from all over the world.

To my mind it appears that Dubai has become the second home for the Memon community where the community members have freely chosen to carry on their business and social activities. As such the organizers of this Convention have rightly selected Dubai as the venue of this grand Convention.

The Memon community is, by the grace of Almighty Allah, spread all over the world where they are engaged in trade, commerce, finance and other social activities, yet there always was a need to provide the community with a forum where they could meet periodically in order to coordinate their efforts with regard to the progress and well-being of the entire community. This convention seems to be the first step in that direction.

Members of our community wherever they live, feel proud of their being Memons because they always followed in the footsteps of their forefathers who excelled in the accomplishment of their goals, especially in the economic spheres as well as in charity towards the humanity at large.

It is a matter of great satisfaction for me to see that the present day generation of our community has plenty of leading businessmen, industrialists, scientists, engineers, doctors, accountants, educationists, economists, bankers, computer wizards and I.T. experts apart from other professionals, not to speak of a galaxy of philanthropists and social workers.

Yet I strongly feel that the achievements of our community encompass only their own respective territories and hardly cross the borders. It is therefore in this context that a permanent forum is the need of the hour where the community elite may meet periodically to share each other's experience and expertise for better approach towards serving the community globally.

To this end Memon scholars working in developed parts of the world can enormously contribute by letting the community know about the uplift of the younger and future generations by inculcating the modern trends in education, science and technology without compromising on their personal traits of devotion to religion, humility and righteousness.

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This takes me to the thought that when we talk of coordination, liaison and co-operation between the community in the fields of business and investment, social conduct, welfare activities and education internationally we have to set up an apex body to coordinate our activities internationally. For this purpose we must establish our website with a view to supply information to the entire community in different parts of world. I would therefore suggest formation of a Memon International Council permanently based at its Headquarters at a place to be chosen by this Convention having a Steering committee with five members each drawn from Pakistan, India, three each from UAE, UK, USA, South Africa, two each from Canada, East Africa and Sri Lanka. The proposed Steering Committee should be entrusted with the task of preparing a comprehensive report on the proposed formation of the Memon International Council incorporating therein the objectives of the Council, its modus operandi and detailed framework. This report should be submitted at a convenient time so that the same may be placed before the second Memon International Conference to be held in future. I leave it to this Convention to decide whether the International Convention be held annually or after every two or three years and whether it should be held by rotation in any participating country in a revolving manner. Until then the Steering Committee be given mandate to take appropriate decisions.

My other suggestion is that the organisers of this Convention should compile and publish a Directory titled "WHO's WHO IN MEMON WORLD" containing names, contacts and profiles of prominent Memon personalities including businessmen, industrialists, professionals, engineers, scientists, doctors and academics etc with names of educational institutes and centres of science and technology besides health care centres established by the Memon community throughout the world.

Pakistan holds a bright future for investment in trade and industry as well as large-scale joint ventures. I invite my brethren from every corner of the world to come forward and whole-heartedly invest in Pakistan. Similarly I invite students of our community to take advantage of learning in Pakistan where a number of prestigious institutes of computer & management sciences have sprung up in recent years. We are also in the process of setting up Memon University of Information Technology in Karachi. This project will Insha Allah prove to be a milestone in the annals of our service to tile community.

In the end I once again express my gratitude to tile organizers of this grand Convention and pray for the success of their endeavors to unite our community by bringing to international limelight the services rendered by them in various spheres of life in almost every part of the world.

Thank you

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