The 8th meeting of Federal Textile Board was held on Thursday in Textile Division, Ministry of Commerce and Textile, Islamabad.
The meeting was chaired by advisor to prime minister on Commerce and Textile in his capacity as Chairman of the Board. It was also attended by Federal secretary Textile Division, joint secretaries Textile Division, Secretary to the board, and representatives of almost all the leading associations of textile sector.
The advisor welcomed all the participants for their interest in the meeting and highlighted the importance of the textile sector.
The advisor assured the participants that the government is cognizant of the problems faced by the industry and that steps are being taken to address them. Representatives of the associations appreciated the decision of the government to introduce a separate gas tariff for the textile value chain and that the price has been kept at Rs600/mmbtu.
Furthermore, they highlighted the issues like pending rebates under PM package for exporters, energy prices and other issues faced by the ginners, spinners and value added sectors due to which our textile exports are uncompetitive and at disadvantageous position vis-à-vis other regional countries particularly India and Bangladesh.
The advisor to PM assured the industry that sufficient funds would be released by FBR for refund of the claims submitted by the exporters to boost total exports in view of the on-going trade and current account deficit.
The advisor desired that industry should import state of the art machinery and adopt scientific methods in their value chain to become more productive. Representatives of the industry thanked the advisor for his interest in the problems being faced by the textile sector.
Source: The Express Tribune, Pakistan Friday, 12 October 2018