Chairman All Pakistan Textile Mills Association (Aptma) Punjab Gohar Ejaz has urged the government to seek immediate market access from the US and the EU in the backdrop of UN report, suggesting that the magnitude of current floods is higher than Tsunami in Sri Lanka and earthquakes in Haiti and Azad Kashmir, Pakistan.
While expressing deep sympathies with the flood affectees, Gohar Ejaz said the number of affectees is estimated to be at about 14 million (UN report), and feared that the economic impact of the calamity may be further disastrous with damages to millions of cotton bales in the flood-affected districts. He feared that the textile industry is likely to be hit hard with unprecedented floods in the country and industry circles are foreseeing heavy industry closures, leading to massive job losses, a situation that may aggravate the situation further.
He urged the government to activate its trade diplomatic channels to secure immediate market access in the US and the EU, as they did in the case of Sri Lanka after Tsunami. Ejaz also urged the government to negotiate special arrangements with US government for import of cotton on deferred payment basis through the Trading Corporation of Pakistan (TCP) in order to keep the industry wheel running.
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