Prime Minister Shaukat Aziz has called a meeting of the Textile Board on Tuesday in Islamabad to review the performance and problems of the textile industry which earns about 70 percent of foreign exchange, Commerce Secretary Tasneem Noorani told Business Recorder here on Saturday. He added that the government has achieved the export targets of the first and second quarters of the 2004 FY amounting to more than $ 6.38 billion which showed more than 12 percent increase over the corresponding period last year.
Official sources told Business Recorder that the Prime Minister, who is returning home on Sunday after his trade and investment-oriented visit to EU headquarters Brussels and attending the World Economic Forum in Davos, Switzerland, will brief the stakeholders of the textile industry about his talks with the EU Commission on extension of duty-free generalised system of preference (GSP) and other trade-related issues.
The Textile Board comprising federal ministers of commerce, textiles, industries, food and agriculture and representatives of all Pakistan Textile Mills Association, ginners, exporters and growers, regularly reviews problems of the industry and takes policy decisions.
The sources said that after the first month of the quota-free WTO regime, the meeting will take stock of the performance of the textile industry and decide on necessary measures to face the challenges of quality products, competitive prices, efficient management and transparent business practices.
The sources said that some segments of the industry, like readymade garments, knitwear and bed linen exporters have painted a gloomy picture of their exports because of the costly local inputs and imposition of 12 percent duty by EU countries on imports and abolition of textile quotas by the US and EU for Pakistan. The exporters wanted reduction in electricity tariffs, abolition of sales tax, customs and other duties on the export-oriented textile products and modernised infrastructure to compete with its major Asian rivals-China and India.
However, others say that WTO regime has opened opportunities for Pakistan to play its due role as the fifth biggest producer of the raw cotton in the $ 370 billion textile market. They are of the firm opinion that annual textile exports could be easily increased up to $ 16 billion during the next five year with value-addition and up-gradation of the textile machinery.
The export of 2 million cotton bales purchased by the Trading Corporation of Pakistan this year is another issue which is under debate for the past two months in the industry circle.
The sources said that the Textile Board was expected to take decisions of far-reaching consequences, as textile is the backbone of the country's economy.