Central Chairman Pakistan Readymade Garments Manufacturers & Exporters Association (PRGMEA) Ijaz A. Khokhar has proposed setting up of Federation of Pakistan Textile Industry (FPTI), a forum of all associations of textile sector. He put forward this proposal in the first-ever roundtable conference of industry stakeholders, attended by about 15 associations right from cotton growers to value-added manufacturers and exporters, at a local hotel.
The participants took his proposal positively and constituted a five-member committee to prepare a working paper to set the objectives and the vision of FPTI ahead. Central Chairman All Pakistan Textile Mills Association (APTMA) Gohar Ejaz also attended the meeting.
Chairman PRGMEA has also proposed celebrations in connection with $14 billion textile industry exports during outgoing fiscal 2010-11. He said these celebrations would be organised at the Expo Centre Lahore right after Eid-ul-Futr with Prime Minister as a chief guest.
Earlier, speaking on the occasion, Chairman PRGMEA expressed the hope that the roundtable conference, in the face of a crisis like situation oozing out of decrease in cotton prices internationally, would bring the industry stakeholders closer in future. He said the prime objective of the roundtable was to chalk out a joint strategy for saving the whole textile value chain, right from the cotton grower to the value-added manufacturers and exporters, from the crisis emanating from decrease in cotton prices. He suggested 'fair play' to the participants in combating the crisis and helping each other at a joint forum.
He said there is no doubt that the cotton growers are prime victims of the crisis. The Prime Minister's direction to the FBR for exemption of cotton growers from the levy of 3.5 percent Withholding Tax is a timely action and we demand further immediate actions to save textile industry in the larger national interest, he added. However, he said, the government should immediately address the energy supply issue to the textile industry. The utility price should be kept stable until its supply is ensured, he said, adding: "Energy supply to the processing industry should be provided on priority in order to generate demand for consumption of local raw material ie cotton."
Chairman PRGMEA also demanded low bank markup to avoid huge defaults in textile industry ahead. Further, he said, the stuck-up claims under the Drawback of Local Taxes and Levies (DLTL) scheme should be cleared without delay besides extending it to the value added industry for the current fiscal year as well.
According to him, the bad law and order situation was distorting country's image abroad and there is a need of addressing the situation urgently. Chairman RPGMEA said the textile industry's capacity to perform would remain suppressed in the absence of above-mentioned measures. I urge all the stakeholders to set aside their differences and lend support to each other on a single point agenda of steering the textile industry out of crisis.