All Pakistan Textile Mills Association (APTMA) Chairman Mohsin Aziz said objections raised by Bangladesh about Pakistan on GSP plus status in the EU market are unfounded. Pakistan would never be a threat to Bangladesh’s apparel industry in the European Union market, he said. It may be noted that in a recent meeting held in the European Commission, Bangladesh has objected entry of eight items of the clothing sector of Pakistan to the EU market.
Chairman APTMA termed this move as unfair and said that Pakistan has never opposed Bangladesh and instead let it grow in the EU market. As a result, Bangladesh exports to the EU have reached to $16 billion today in clothing sector from merely $2 billion a few years back, he said. Pakistan, on the contrary, has peaked to a mere $1.5 billion in clothing sector in a market of $80 billion in total, he added.
Chairman APTMA said Bangladesh has already developed strong inroads to the EU due to its Least Developed Country (LDC) status and is therefore, enjoying a favourable environment and market access. He said entry of clothing sector products of Pakistan to the EU would not yield any significant new investment in the country as this status, if allowed, would be for initial period of just two years and thus, it would only activate the idle and unutilised capacities until 2014. Therefore, there is no threat to Bangladesh market, he added.
Mohsin said that the Bangladesh clothing sector has already grown; having a huge share of $16 billion in the EU market, and it is growing constantly with a comparatively low cost of doing business against Pakistan. In fact, Pakistan qualifies for market access to the EU on humanity grounds similar to Bangladesh after being severely hit by natural calamities including flood, earthquake along with terrorism etc. Therefore, he said that, Pakistan needs special favour and a brotherly country like Bangladesh should not oppose it.
Chairman, APTMA has urged the federal government and the ministry of commerce to take up the issue on ministerial as well as foreign level in the larger interest of the country’s exports. He said that this issue is more important than the MFN status to India and demands immediate attention of the government policymakers. He also expressed the hope that Pakistan government would take Bangladesh government into confidence and would ensure a brotherly relationship based on complimenting each other rather than competing each other.
