LAHORE-The Pakistan Hosiery Manufacturers & Exporters Association (PHMA) has urged the Ministry of Commerce to ensure representation of apparel sector in the recently constituted Export Advisory Council of Textiles, as the largest export earning knitwear sector has been totally ignored for representation on this important platform.
PHMA Central Chairman Nahid Abbas, in a letter written to the federal Minister for Commerce Dr. Gohar Ejaz, has drawn his attention towards the formation of the new Export Advisory Council but unfortunately it has no representation of the PHMA despite the fact the Association is the premier trade organization, representing the hosiery and knitwear industry, accelerating and providing growth in all sectors of the economy, generating immense employment and promoting national self-reliance.
Nahid Abbas appreciated the efforts of the interim federal minister to establish this important Council with a view to offer its valuable recommendations and suggest measures to uplift textile exports. We are sure that under the Council’s expertise and guidance the country can achieve the export goals and give a significant boost to the economy if it is constituted purely on merit and takes all genuine stakeholders onboard, the central chairman added.
PHMA North Zone Chairman Farrukh Iqbal stated that the federal minister personally knows that in spite of all the difficulties the knitwear sector has been performing better than all other export sectors and the potential for its further growth is tremendous. If due support is extended this sector can outperform to bring the country out of all kind of crises, besides earning foreign exchange and providing mass employment in the country.
“We have due regard for nomination of some respectable personalities on the Council, but ignoring and neglecting the extremely important Small and Medium components of the industry and the sector as a whole, is totally unacceptable,” he added. PHMA North Zone Senior Vice Chairman Amanullah Khan lodged his strong protest and demanded that knitwear sector may be given representation in the Council so that they could bring on record the difficulties they are facing and contribute towards progressive policy formulation and productive suggestions.
He said that special incentives were announced in the textile policy, but the businessmen were not provided the same for the promotion of value-addition of textile sector. We request the government to look into the matter and ensure the representation of SMEs in the Council, enabling them to play their role in the formulation of all textile related policies. The PHMA leaders said that the sector has been a major taxpayer, the largest employment generator in the entire textile chain and earning billions of dollars foreign exchange through exports goods. They urged the government to take immediate steps for discouraging exports of raw materials and encourage export of value-added products.