LAHORE:Governor Chaudhry Sarwar says trade concession given by the European Union (EU) to Pakistan’s textile and other products under its General System of Preferences (GSP) Plus scheme will be meaningless if the country fails to double its exports.

Speaking at the inauguration of the new management of the All Pakistan Textile Mills Association (Aptma) on Tuesday, the governor said he realised the difficulties facing Punjab’s textile industry – particularly on account of the growing energy crunch – and would make every effort to remove impediments dragging it down.

“You create wealth and bring foreign exchange to the country; therefore, it’s incumbent upon the government to resolve your issues and problems to create new jobs and raise exports,” said he while addressing the mill owners. The government would soon devise a strategy to strengthen the textile industry, he added.

“The textile industry is backbone of our economy and no government can afford to see it go down. We may not live up to you expectations but you will shortly see results of our efforts,” he said.

The governor appreciated the Aptma leadership for its efforts for GSP Plus facility, saying the Aptma leadership had raised the alarm bells well in time and cautioned the government over the opposition in Europe to the country’s request for trade concessions from the 28-nation bloc.

Speaking on the occasion, federal minister for textile industry Abbas Khan Afridi was hopeful the energy shortage for Punjab textile manufacturers would be removed soon. He said over three quarters of the country’s textile capacity was in Punjab and the growing shortage of gas and electricity for it meant massive job and export losses.

“This is something no government can afford,” he said. He promised to request the prime minister to intervene to resolve the energy troubles of Punjab’s textile industry.

In his speech, Aptma’s new chairman S.M. Tanveer spoke about the nightmare the industry had went through during the last one year because of energy shortage. He said Aptma would make all-out efforts to save the industry by not letting electricity and gas cuts ruin its future. He said the industry was unable to understand as to why energy supply to mills was curtailed because of Eid, cricket match and political activity in the country. He said millions of textile workers were dependent on uninterrupted operations of the mills designed on continuous production 365 days a year.

Mr Tanveer said the closure of the textile industry on the excuse of energy shortage was equivalent to its murder.

“It seems the textile industry in Pakistan is being destroyed under a pre-planned strategy and no one is there to take notice of it.”

Already, he said, Pakistan’s textile industry had been made regionally uncompetitive by 67pc increase in power prices in one year.

“We have decided to raise our voice vociferously against any such mistreatment,” he said and expressed hope that the government would understand Aptma’s point of view. He said the government was grossly treating the textile industry for over the last five months.

“Our industry is being abused and cases are being registered against its members, which has resulted in $1 billion export loss in quantitative term. The exports may lose another $2.3 billion in case the prevailing situation continues for the rest of the present financial year.”

Present on the occasion were Businessmen Group chairman Javed Iqbal, former Aptma chairman Gohar Ejaz, Aptma-Punjab new chairman Seth Mohammad Akber and other office-bearers. Outgoing Aptma chairman Yasin Siddique addressed the ceremony.

Published in Dawn, October 1st , 2014