FAISALABAD: Mian Farrukh Iqbal Chairman Pakistan Hosiery Manufacturers and Exporters Association (North Zone) while addressing the delegation of Commerce and Trade Officers under training said that increasing the value added textile export is actually possible only with the joint efforts of the officers of the Ministry of Commerce and the business community.
He said that the growing gap in imports and exports is the biggest challenge for the officers under the training of Commerce and Trade, which can be overcome only through close contacts and joint efforts with the stakeholders of the value-added textile sector.
While introducing the association, he said that Pakistan Hosiery Manufacturers and Exporters Association is the only representative organization of garment manufacturing units in the country. We have four offices, head office in Karachi and regional offices in Lahore, Faisalabad and Sialkot. The hosiery sector with more than 2000 members directly or indirectly provides employment to nearly five lakh families and holds the distinction of being the largest employer. PHMA members earn about $4.4 billion in foreign exchange from garment exports.
He said that the main reason for Pakistan’s decline in textiles is the lack of communication between stakeholders and policy makers. He said that we should increase value-added textile exports by reducing dependence on foreign loans to earn valuable foreign exchange for the country, because countries that are economically strong are not only internally prosperous but also in the international community seen with respect.
Qazafi Rind, director of Pakistan Institute of Trade and Development Islamabad, said that after the common training program of the officers trained by Commerce and Trade, specialized training programmes are also organized for different fields.
He said that the purpose of the visits of these under-training officers is to enhance close contacts with the actual stakeholders, so that they should be able to make viable and beneficial business decisions by understanding the ground realities in the performance of their professional duties.
Muhammad Amjad Khawaja, former chairman of PHMA, said that currently the textile industry is suffering from a severe crisis because the government has also burdened the budget with more taxes along with increasing the prices of electricity and gas. He added that some government representatives ignore the business community even though our sector is bringing in valuable foreign exchange earnings to Pakistan as well as providing employment to more people.
Fazal Ur Rehman Rao, Hafiz Kamran from TDAP Faisalabad and Kashif Zia, Hazar Khan, Hafiz Rashid Mehmood, Shaheen Tabsam, Zanoon Nazir and other members from PHMA also participated in the meeting. In the end, Mian Kashif Zia thanked the guests and officers under training, while Muhammad Amjad Khawaja and Qazafi Rind also presented the shields of their respective institutions to each other.
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