Zardari reaches out to textile tycoons ahead of elections

LAHORE: Former President Asif Ali Zardari on Friday said Pakistan Peoples Party is ready to sign ‘charter of economy’.

Addressing the members of All Pakistan Textile Mills Association, Zardari said all political parties should be on one page regarding efforts aimed at taking country’s economy out of the woods.

Without naming Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf chairman Imran Khan, Zardari said “I asked former cricketer that we should sit together and sign the charter of economy but unfortunately he was not interested in it”.

Country needs ‘charter of economy’: Zardari

He said he is ready to sit with everyone to bring economic prosperity in the country. He said that he would be ready to do everything to increase exports.

Responding to a question, Zardari said he never hoodwinked anybody and he would not deceive PML (N).

He said Pakistan is a ‘golden basket’. He also said his dream of $100 billion exports would materialize with the help of textile industry. He said he would try his level best to provide energy to the export sector on competitive rates. Zardari said the textile entrepreneurs should lead the ministries of textile and finance to take the country forward.

He said a PPP government would surely ensure completion of the gas pipeline from Iran besides supporting border trade.

“I will bring gas from Iran for the textile industry of Pakistan to reduce its input cost,” he said. He said he had advocated trade, not aid, in his talks with the European Union back in 2013.

He said Bangladesh has got the advantage of GSP plus because of its underdeveloped status. Nintey percent of Indian textile products get the tag of ‘Made in Bangladesh’ and shipped to Europe for sale, he said.

Earlier In his address, Gohar Ejaz said the potential of textile exports of not less than $25 billion on the basis of current capacity.

He said the industry has set a target of $50 billion in the next five years besides possessing a commitment to set up 1,000 garment units with 500,000 stitching machines out of a total investment of $7 billion to give $20 billion per annum rise in exports and generate employment for 700,000 workers. He said these garments plants be established near major Textile producing cities i.e. Lahore, Sheikhupura, Faisalabad, Kasur, Multan, Sialkot, Rawalpindi, Sukkur, Hyderabad, Karachi, and Peshawar.

He said there is a decline in export and deindustrialization in Punjab due to non-availability of Regionally Competitive Energy Tariff (RCET).

He made it clear that the RCET is not a subsidy. Without RCET, he said, exporters in Pakistan cannot compete in the international markets, as Pakistan has the highest energy tariff in the region and high price of energy plus intermittent/curtailed supply is a recipe for deindustrialization.

While speaking about the solution, he urged to maintain 9cents/kWh for electricity and $9/MMBtu for gas for export sector across Pakistan.

He has sought dedicated power plants for the industrial sector and wheeling of electricity under the CTBCM regime, which requires full support of the Finance Division.

He also sought restoration of SRO 1125, refund of all sales tax, Tuff and other dues, working capital lending facility besides a moratorium on debt, clearance of all imports of Export Oriented Sectors/Zero-Rated Industries whether, permission to open L/Cs for raw material machinery, spare parts and other items, extension of existing export discounting mechanism by SBP to include yarn and cloth and equitable treatment for all textile products in terms of export discounts.

Asif Inam, Aamir Fayyaz, Rehman Naseem, Shahid Abdullah, Omer Nazar Shah, Ahmad Kamal also spoke on the occasion.

Syed Murtaza Mahmud, Federal Minister for Industries and Production and Saleem Mandviwalla, Chairman Senate Standing Committee on Finance and Revenue, were also present on the occasion.

Earlier, Patron-in-Chief APTMA Gohar Ejaz, along with Chairman APTMA Asif Inam, Chairman North Hamid Zaman, Senior Vice Chairman Kamran Arshad and Secretary General Raza Baqir, welcomed the former President of Pakistan.

Copyright Business Recorder, 2023