22 January 2004	Thursday	29 Ziqa'ad 1424

KARACHI, Jan 21: The Pakistan Readymade Garments Manufacturers and Exporters Association has invited the Export Promotion Bureau to enter into negotiations over the issue of Duty and Tax Remission for Exports (DTRE) to make them acceptable to all category of exporters.

In a statement issued on Wednesday, PRGMEA chairman Tahir Aziz pointed out that it was necessary that the EPB and exporters' associations should sit together and formulate changes in the DTRE scheme to make it acceptable to small and medium exporters.

He said the DTRE scheme in its present form was best suitable for big exporters and manufacturing houses who have integrated activities such as weaving, spinning and dyeing under one roof.

Mr Aziz suggested that any final draft changes in DTRE must be circulated among PRGMEA and other textile exporters' trade bodies and get their approval. "It has been a practice in the past that the new rules issued by the CBR were quite different from what had been agreed with the trade."

The PRGMEA chief insisted that the most difficult provision of DTRE was the condition to maintain records for five years as small and medium exporters did not have resources to maintain a large staff for keeping records.

He appreciated Commerce Minister Humayun Akhtar for realizing exporters' problem viz-a-viz SRO410 and persuading the CBR for its extension up to June 30, 2004.