Textile industry criticises attitude of commerce ministry

RECORDER REPORT

LAHORE: Textile industry circles have criticised the dilly-dallying attitude of commerce ministry for slumbering over endless dragging of issue of the EU trade concessions to Pakistan.

These circles pointed out that the federal commerce ministry has not approached the industry on the issue and it has invested all its energies in extending Most Favoured Nation (MFN) status to India.

It may be noted that undue lingering of the EU trade concession to Pakistan to help it out after devastating floods has frustrated the textile industry at large. Particularly, the value-added industry is perturbed over snail-paced developments amidst indifferent attitude of the government of Pakistan.

They pointed out that Pakistan representative in the WTO had also disappointed earlier when India had objected the concession. It is worth mentioning that floods have played havoc with cotton growers in South Punjab and interior Sindh during last two years.

Press reports have suggested that Bangladesh has planned to end a complaint against the EU move to grant beneficial import terms to Pakistan textile after an agreement to impose a tariff cap on six items instead of eight. Pakistan has been exporting these products under different CN codes and the trade figures are actually understated drastically. If we agree to these proposals the ceiling in these categories will be exhausted in the first few months, thus severely limiting the benefits from these concessions, he added.

Chairman Aptma Mohsin Aziz said Bangladesh is brotherly country and Pakistan has always welcomed any benefit to Bangladesh in world trade. According to him, the federal government should focus on trade concessions from the EU.

Shehzad Salim, Central Chairman, Pakistan Readymade Garments Manufacturers and Exporters Association (PRGMEA) has also said that Bangladesh's reservations to the EU concessions is really unfounded because their garment exports to the EU are more than 5 times Pakistan's exports (approximately $13.00 billion vs. $2.5 billion respectively). Bangladesh's Commerce Secretary himself has admitted that the impact of these concessions on Bangladesh's exports to EU will not be more than $ 10 million which is really minuscule compared to Bangladesh's overall exports.

Fears are high that some other countries such as Brazil, Indonesia and Peru are also opposing these concessions at the WTO level after India and Bangladesh. They said both the Commerce and Foreign Affairs ministries should take up this issue simultaneously with these countries and resolve their concerns, thereby getting the package implemented immediately.