All Pakistan Textile Mills Association (APTMA) top leadership met the Prime Minister Raja Pervez Ashraf at the Governor House Lahore. Chairman APTMA Ahsan Bashir led the delegation, comprising of Group Leader APTMA Gohar Ejaz, Chairman APTMA Punjab Shahzad Ali Khan, Central Vice Chairman APTMA Wisal A. Monnoo and other senior members of the Central Executive Committee.
Chairman APTMA exchanged the issues and problems faced by the textile industry in running smooth operations due to energy constraints. The APTMA delegation made a detailed presentation on the way forward with regard to industrialization in country.
The Prime Minister took three important decisions to materialize the dream of industrialization in the country. It included the decision to finalize the energy supply management to the textile industry during winter season. The Prime Minister constituted a high-powered committee with himself in the chair and taking APTMA, Ministry of Water & Power, Ministry of Finance and Ministry of Petroleum & Natural Resources on board.
The committee will devise and streamline the energy security plan for the industry in order to keep production capacities operational during the winter season in country.
The Prime Minister also took APTMA on board on strategizing the way forward on market access to the European Union from 2014 onward with a view of expediting the necessary preparatory steps in this regard. In addition, the Prime Minister also assured the APTMA leadership of measures for encouraging further investment under the textile policy for creating jobs and production of exportable surplus in country.
It may be noted that the textile industry is mainstay of Pakistan economy, leading employer with 15 million workers across Pakistan and the highest foreign exchange earner of $14 billion. Undue interruptions in energy supply is hampering growth of textile industry, having faced gas curtailment for 184 days in 2011-12 and losing over 30% production capacities. The uninterrupted electricity and gas supply to the textile industry will go a long way for sustaining the industry and its growth in the larger economic interest of Pakistan.
Speaking on the occasion, Chairman APTMA told the Prime Minister that the industry is prepared to undertake further investment to double production, exports and employment provided that it is assured of conducive investment climate, uninterrupted supply of gas and electricity, regionally competitive interest rate and a secure free market access.
Source:
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