Minister for Textile Industry, Rana Farooq Saeed Khan has said US, European Union and Canada should grant Pakistan access to their markets to economically strengthen Pakistan. "We want trade not aid," the minister said while addressing the Executive Committee of Multan Chamber of Commerce & Industry (MCCI) chaired by Malik Asrar Ahmed Awan here on Saturday.
"We had incurred a loss of 100 billion dollars in war against terrorism and we had incurred a loss of 300 billion dollars in floods," Global community should compensate Pakistan to meet its losses of 400 billion dollars for its revival. He said that total loss of cotton crop due to present floods is not more than two million bales (15 percent). He said that textile is the industry which provide jobs to millions of people. Some institutions and departments relating to textile are still out of our reach and these were not given under the control of this ministry. The minister said they had acquired the land to establish Ginning Institute in Multan.
The minister said that Pakistan fought against USSR for the cause of US and European countries and once again we are fighting war on terror for them. These countries had provided access to Sri Lanka and Haiti to their markets but Pakistan is still deprived of this facility. He demanded for free access to US, EU and Canadian markets for next ten year. He stressed the need for ending the anti-dumping duty. The minister said that A model village would be developed in flood hit areas of Punjab, KP and Sindh with the help of the textile sector.
He said that Pakistan's total textile exports stood at over $10 billion in 2009/10 financial year (July-June), of which about $6 billions worth textile products exported to the US and the EU. The floods, the worst in the country's history, have killed up to 1,600 people, forced more than 4 million from their homes and disrupted the lives of about 20 million people - nearly 12 percent of the population.
The floods also damaged up to 2 million bales of cotton, and traders say that Pakistan would have to import up to 3 million bales to make up for a shortfall. Pakistan produced 12.7 million bales in the 2009/10 (July-June) financial year, when the country had to import about 2 million bales, and was hoping to harvest 14 million from the 2010/11 crop. "Aptma, value added sector and Nova Textiles presented the cheques of Rs 10 million each to the minister for Prime Minister's Flood Relief Fund. A senior Member of MCCI and Director of Mehmood Group of Industries presented a cheque of Rs 0.5 million.
The minister, during his visit to flood-hit areas of Muzaffargarh said that the government was actively considering a proposal to waive the water-rate (Abiana) and write off the agricultural loans upto Rs 0.2 million and granting Rs 0.3 million to each affected family besides issuance of house building loan through HBFC.
Chairman of Aptma, shehzad Ahmed said that Aptma despatched goods worth Rs 20 million through 50 truckloads to flood-hit areas of Punjab and KP. The Chairman Aptma also handed over a cheque of Rs 10 million to the minister for Prime Minister Flood Relief Fund, during his visit to the flood affected areas of Muzaffargarh.
The chairman Aptma assured the minister that the textile sector stands united with the government in this hour of trial. He informed the minister that Aptma has been carrying out relief work for the flood victims across the country and so far distributed about 50 trucks of edible items and waterproof tents amongst the flood affected people. Ahmed expressed his sorrow over the plight of flood-affected people uprooted from their homes by devastating floods. He assured the minister that the textile industry would do everything to help the government in its rescue and reconstruction efforts in the flood-affected areas.