Export-related work: Mintex moving towards taking full responsibility?

IQBAL MIRZA

KARACHI: Ministry of Textile Industry (Mintex), it appears is moving in a subtle way to take total responsibility of export related work, leaving Ministry of Commerce and Trade Development Authority of Pakistan (TDAP) to work as dummy departments.

These observations have been made by Towel Manufacturers’ Association of Pakistan (TMA) while commenting on the ‘concept paper’ on the proposed “Textile Pakistan, International Conference & Exhibition” forwarded by Mintex for feed back and suggestions.

Chairman, TMA, Feroze Alam Lari in reply said: having gone through the concept paper, it seems that Mintex has taken total responsibility of export related work leaving other organizations like Ministry of Commerce and Trade Development Authority of Pakistan (TDAP) to work as dummy departments “which is not in the interest of export sector.”

TMA summarised its suggestions and comments as under:

Every department related to export trade should work in its own domain and unnecessary interference in the work of others be avoided as this will not help in increasing country’s exports, rather negative impact on promotion of country’s exports and images.

The main objective of Ministry of Textile Industry was to implement Textile Policy 2009-2014 but, in TMA’s opinion, 99 per cent work on textile policy has not yet been implemented. Mintex should focus on implementation of this policy in its true sense and adopt proper planning for compiling next textile policy so that it yields better results.

According to the concept paper, textiles is the most efficient and competitive sector of our economy, which is competing in the international market for the last six decades and earning much valuable foreign exchange. It has grown in infrastructure tremendously and this growth has translated well into increase in textile exports.

But unfortunately, the pace of this growth has been slow in comparison with other countries exporting textile goods.

Reasons for this slow growth are both internal as well as external. Internally, adverse law and order situation and power shortages have cost a lot of trouble for the manufacturers. Externally, in the recent times Pakistan has been quoted in the media for wrong reasons, which has created an aura of negativity about the country.

Furthermore, negative travel advisories issued by various countries have worsened the situation. This has kept buyers away from Pakistani soil. Most of the foreigners have been showing reluctance to travel to Pakistan. This negative perception about the country mainly rests on reports flashed in the international media which are, most of the time, exaggeration of reality.

Resultantly, Pakistani exporters have to travel to the buyers to sell their products, which have increased the cost. The government and business community have been trying to dispel this perception of Pakistan being a high security risk area for sometime. Some success in this regard has been observed as some business delegations have visited Pakistan.

Now it is about time that these efforts are intensified to give a stronger message to the world business community that Pakistan is as safe a place as anywhere in the world.

Ministry of Textiles plans to organize a three day event involving textile manufacturers, importers and exporters, where delegations from all the major textile markets may be invited for participation. This event would help exporters to find new opportunities to enhance their exports but most importantly, this event will help to promote Pakistan as a safe place for business.

The event will include following activities:

Textile products exhibition, exhibition and seminar on technical advancements in textile machinery, seminar on joint ventures in textile sector, seminar on collaboration among universities in the field of textile education, and promotion of local brands through exhibition.