A ten-member trade delegation from Synthetic and Rayon Textile Export Promotion Council Mumbai, India held a meeting with members of Pakistan Hosiery Manufacturers Association (PHMA) here on Monday and exchanged views to explore opportunities of mutual benefit and interest.
Welcoming the delegation, M. Amjad Khawaja, Chairman PHMA said, "We have high regards for our neighbours and we give value to the progress and achievements shown by our Indian counterparts especially in synthetic fibre yarn manufacturing and processing".
Khawaja further said that India have achieved remarkable results in the field of dyes and chemicals together with accessories.
He felt that joint collaboration of their sources and professional experience could add up to lot of strength and power to their marketing force, which could help both the countries to snatch a big market share in post quota regime. Perhaps this was a way they could deal with the emerging challenges from other competitors in free trade regime.
Prem Malik Vice-Chairman, Synthetic and Rayon Textile Export Promotion Council Mumbai said that in last three months, two delegations from India and one delegation from Pakistan had visited each other and by holding exhibitions and through visits of delegations, both the countries could boost their export earnings.
He said that there was a need to foster better trade relations between the two countries as the WTO challenges were same for them. He invited the Pakistani exporters to explore the Indian markets for mutually beneficial projects for sustained trade in future.
Elaborating he said that Pakistani textile sector was dominated by the cotton and polyester based products whereas India could offer polyester, acrylic and cellulose based products for Pakistan and could benefit from the Pakistani exports.
The economy of Safta was over 1.5 billion people and Pakistan would definitely get benefit from the improved trade, he added. About the composition of the Indian textile sector, Prem revealed that the Indian textile exports were $15 billion, which were likely to rise by $30 billion by 2010, while the total size of Indian textile sector was $30 billion, which would likely to grow to $85 billion by 2010.
He opined that India and Pakistan must hold exhibitions in each other countries and there existed a need to ease the travelling restrictions between the two countries.
Members of the delegation were of the view that businessmen of both countries should identified the areas in which both countries can help each other to get competitive advantage in international market.
"We should also take up these issues with our respective governments", they added.
The delegation members identified the areas of mutual co-operation so that textile industry of both the countries could get benefit of experiences of each other.