There is no chance of re-imposition of the textile quotas beyond January 2005 or extension of Generalised System of Preferences (GSP), which allowed duty-free access to the European Union (EU) markets.
Newly appointed Pakistan's Economic Minister to the European Union (EU) headquarter in Brussels Tariq Puri has said this while addressing the garment exporters at a farewell dinner organised by the Pakistan Readymade Garments Manufacturers and Exporters Association (Prgmea) on Tuesday.
However, Tariq said Pakistani exporters could be benefited from the additional quotas for the 10 new members, joining the EU fold in May, and the country would have the most favoured nation (MFN) status from the EU member states after the ratification of third generation agreement.
He said that after joining office in the second half of the next month, he would lobby both with the EU bureaucracy, buyers, as well as the domestic complainants, who were responsible for anti-dumping duty on the export of bedlinen from Pakistan.
He said that the two sides had common interests in the textile trade and due to Pakistani niche in the textile products, the European consumers needed quality and reasonably priced Pakistani products.
"I will invite textile manufacturers in the EU to enter into joint ventures with Pakistani textile exporters to capture the global markets in the World Trade Organisation (WTO) free trade regime", he said.
Welcoming the guest, Prgmea Chairman Tahir Aziz expressed the hope that the new minister would take up with the EU authorities most crucial issues hurting the textile exports, mainly anti-dumping duty imposed on the bedlinen and the withdrawal of the duty-free access.
He said that with the start of the WTO free trade era in 2005, the Pakistani products would suffer from 25.1 percent custom duty, following the withdrawal of the GSP and the levy of the anti-dumping duty.
Responding to questions put forth by a leading textile think tank, Rashid Surti, Tariq Puri said that it was for the first time in the history of Pak-EU relations that the EU Commission had suo moto offered Pakistan for a review of the dumping duty, provided the Pakistan government furnished security assurance to the visiting investigation team.
He said the Export Promotion Bureau (EPB) had been consulting with the bedlinen exporters to choose the option to challenge the duty in the WTO, or other courts of law, or accept the review offer.
About the withdrawal of the GSP, he said it was odd to challenge the data, compiled by the EU that qualified Pakistan for exit from the scheme. It was a pity that during the last 50 years, the country had been mostly remained dependent on the textile export and had not diversified its exports.
Responding to a query by a leading exporter and textile quota expert, Naim Suria, the new Economic Minister dispelled the fears that China could pose a challenge in the textile export during the quota-free period. The former would strive for high value products and would not compete Pakistan in low-priced textile products, he added.
On the other hand, Tariq said the Chinese imports to the US and the EU would be kept under strict surveillance.
"Our textile industry has reached a stage that we would be in head of the games with the abolition of the textile quotas," he added.
He defended the idea of setting up a Textile City near Port Qasim, and said that private sector companies and the government institutions had joined hand to initially contribute Rs 150 million for the development of the city, which would provide all basic infrastructure, mainly water and power for textile processing.
Along with developing the Textile City, President Pervez Musharraf had also introduced the Tameer-e-Karachi programme at a cost of Rs 29 billion for the development of infrastructure at the existing industrial estates.
Tariq Puri advised the exporters to achieve the standards of social compliance and security laid down by the foreign buyers for placing orders during the free-trade era.
These conditions were not the requirement of the governments but of the consumers, using products of a particular country. "They want complete vigilance on the movement of the goods to prevent any threat of terrorism," he added.
Consignment of the exporters not complying with the International Ship and Port Security (ISPS) code would be put to rigorous checks, resulting in heavy clearance delays, he said.
The dinner was attended, among others, by EPB Director General Naved Arif, Director of Textiles Amir Jan, Masood Naqi, Razzak H. Paracha, Zubair Parekh, Bilal Mulla, Abdul Wahid Bandukda and Jamil Akhtar.
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