Islamabad, March 01, 2018 (PPI-OT): Speaker National Assembly Sardar Ayaz Sadiq chaired a meeting with the delegation of All Pakistan Textile Mills Association (APTMA), having detailed discussion on issues faced by the textile industry in the Parliament House, today. Adviser on Finance, Revenue and Economic Affairs Mr. Miftah Ismail, Federal Minister for Power Sardar Awais Ahmed Khan Leghari, Minister of State for Commerce and Textile Haji Muhammad Akram Ansari, Minister of State for Finance and Economic Affairs Rana Muhammad Afzal Khan, relevant Federal Secretaries and large numbers of Representatives of Textile Industry were also present in the meeting.
On this occasion, the Speaker was given a detailed briefing by the Chairman APTMA Mr. Amir Fayyaz Sheikh, President APTMA Mr. Gohar Ijaz and others about current profile of the Pakistani textile industry and its standing in the international market. The delegation also presented various proposals aimed at increasing exports and thereby reducing trade deficit of the country. They said that textile industry in Punjab is vanishing as most of it has closed down its all operations on account of high energy cost that has increased the cost of doing business in the province.
Pakistan’s growth of textile and clothing exports have declined by 10 percent during 2011-17, Mr. Gohar Ijaz said. He stressed upon arguing that Pakistan has lost the competitiveness due to the regionally non-competitive energy cost as gas to the textile industry in Bangladesh is being provided at the cost of $3 per mmbtu, Vietnam $4.2, India $4.5 and in Pakistan the product is being supplied at the cost of $11 per mmbtu.
The APTMA delegation vowed that given the right kind of incentives, textile industry would be able to play its due role in enhancing country’s foreign exchange earnings. The delegation thanked the Speaker for taking out time from his busy schedule for this important meeting.
Speaker Sardar Ayaz Sadiq said that Textile Industry is the backbone of our economy and he assured the delegation that the issues of the textile industry will be discussed with Prime Minster along with the relevant Ministers on priority basis. On this occasion, the Ministers reiterated the commitment of the government to continue undertaking all possible measures, including policy initiatives, to create an enabling environment for the businesses to grow and making Pakistani products more competitive in the international market.
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