A ten member delegation of Pakistan Readymade Garments Manufactures and Exporters Association (PRGMEA) left for Netherlands on Saturday to attend 34th IAF World Fashion Convention, disclosed PRGMEA chief coordinator Ijaz A. Khokhar prior departure. Talking to Business Recorder he said the IAF's 34th World Fashion Convention; co-organized with Dutch Industry Association Modint will be held on October 9th to 10th in Maastricht, Netherlands. Ijaz further added that the International Apparel Federation (IAF) is the only global federation of its kind representing Apparel Associations from 60 countries representing over 150,000 companies.
Modint, the Dutch Association for the fashion and textile industries has about 600 members who have a cumulative annual turnover about 9 billion Euros he added. The IAF Convention caters to apparel industry leaders from across the supply chain from all countries. The Convention is a unique opportunity to gain the insights necessary to understand where our industry is heading he added.
The PRGMEA chief coordinator further told that IAF World Fashion Convention will help Pakistani delegation to develop direct interaction with international business tycoons and delegates. PRGMEA he said was making adequate efforts for bringing big boom in export garments adding that the IAF Convention will surely open new vistas of further development of the domestic industry and help in bringing innovation in products.
Ijaz said delegation during its stay will also hold series of meetings with CBI (Centre for the promotion of imports from developing countries), meeting with House of Denim, Amsterdam Fashion Institute and with HOGIAF (the largest trade organization of Dutch Entrepreneurs).
On this occasion PRGMEA will also give presentation on Pakistan and show a documentary on Pakistan that it is a thriving country for creating awareness about the potential of Pakistan as production hub of textile items especially garments he added. The importance of mega CPEC project will also be highlighted in the convention aimed at creating awareness about the impacts on development prosperity not only of Pakistan but also in the region.
The Central Coordinator further stated that value-added garments sector of the textile industry had shown growth of 11.22 percent in 2017-18 despite the internal and external challenges. The value-added garments sector is major tax payer, largest employment generator in whole textile chain and exporting up to US 5.5 billion products while the sector has a huge scope of expansion he added.
Indeed China-Pakistan Economic Corridor (CPEC) is mega project which had opened not only fundamentals of industrial cooperation between the two friendly counties but also had paved the way for new vistas of economic stability, industrial growth and development in Pakistan he said. The Coordinator suggested that government should constitute a special committee on CPEC with the concerned associations for taking care of the domestic industry and investors enabling it to reap the benefits of this mega project. Ijaz said that strenuous efforts would be made to motivate the participants of IAF World Fashion Convention that they should come forward and invest in mega project of CPEC.
Ijaz said PRGMEA was committed to increase exports of value added garments sector but we need a level playing field as par of our regional competitors adding that we will be able to compete in international market and garment export could fetch US 6 billion dollars in one year and 20 percent more in financial year.