KARACHI – Commerce Secretary Zafar Mahmood along with Trade Development Authority of Pakistan Chief Tariq Iqbal Puri has met prominent exporters in the textile sector to discuss an action plan for enhancing exports of value added textile sector. The Secretary opened the forum for discussion and invited the Industry representatives to present their viewpoint at the event. Most of the industrialists agreed that value addition in Pakistan was inadequate and claimed that this was due to the inefficiency of the workers if taken in the context of the region, high energy cost, load shedding, security situation and infrastructure.
Another highlighted issue was the lack of training. The commerce secretary agreed with the findings of the participants and ordered the formation of a committee under the chairmanship of Chief Executive, TDAP towards the establishment of a training institute in coordination with STEVTA and funding from NEVTA. The committee mandate would also include finalizing training curriculum, acquiring trainers and affiliation with any international Institute. The Secretary also suggested that this Committee may visit Bangladesh to study the ongoing operations of workers training institutes.
With regards to the security situation, the secretary taking into account the views of the industrialists decided to convene another meeting of relevant authorities in Sindh Province, particularly in Karachi, which are responsible for maintaining security in order to take positive steps towards the establishment of security, particularly in industrial areas. Pointing out the viability of the Japanese market, the TDAP CEO emphasised upon the sending of business delegations to Japan where market is potentially quite lucrative. Chief Executive Tariq Iqbal Puri also conducted a brief review of the production capacities of Grey Fabric and Denim and the competition in exporting the products particularly changes in the EU point of origin rules which might pose a serious threat summed up the actions taken so far by The Government to meet the Challenges.
The textile value chain was represented by APTMA Textile Market Access Committee Chairman Sohail Tabba, PRGMEA (Southern Zone)Chairman Javed Chinoi, Shabir Ahmed of Bed wear Association, Rafiq Godil of PAKSEA, PCFA Chairman Khwaja Mohammad Usman, APTMA Vice Chairman Nadeem Maqbool, Javed Bilwani of PHMA, Shahid Ameen of Polyester Staple Fiber, Anis Naviwala of Cambridge Garments and others.
