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LAHORE, Apr 11 (APP):Punjab Board of Investment & Trade (PBIT) Chief Executive Officer Najaf Iqbal Syed Friday highly supported the idea of establishment and operation of Garments Parks in Punjab on the pattern of ‘Plug and Play Model’.
He held a meeting with top textile exporters here at APTMA House, where APTMA (North) Chairman Asad Shafi, Treasurer Muhammad Qasim, S.M. Nabeel, Muhammad Ali, Faisal Jawed, Haroon Ellahi, Danish Aslam, senior APTMA members and Secretary General Mohammad Raza Baqir welcomed him.
The PBIT chief added that such industrial parks will be equipped with the state of art infrastructure to attract foreign and local investors. He formed a committee including representative of APTMA, PBIT and relevant government departments to finalize recommendations on all aspects of setting up of garments parks either in the existing industrial estate at Sheikhupura or on any other site.
He mentioned that Punjab government has assured All Pakistan Textile Mills Association (APTMA) of offering incentives better than any other country to attract Chinese investor to relocate their operations to Pakistan.
“A mechanism is being evolved to ensure no change in policy irrespective of the coming in or going out of any government,” he said, adding that Punjab government would also ensure full scale security to Chinese investors operating in the province.
Talking about the current tariff war, he expressed the confidence that Pakistan would emerge as victorious not only in attracting large foreign investment especially from China but also remarkably upsurge its exports through massive industrialization.
He expressed the hope that APTMA would provide all technical assistance and know how to PBIT for attracting Chinese investors.
Earlier, APTMA (North) Chairman stated that Patron-in-Chief APTMA Dr. Gohar Ejaz had put forward the vision of apparel cities in the province by constructing modern industrial zones dedicated to garment manufacturing.
The aim is to attract local and foreign investors by leveraging competitive advantages like low-cost labour and favourable trade status and to inject the boost of additional USD 12 billion in textile exports, he added.
Asad Shafi said that these industrial parks would offer fully equipped plug & play factories for rent, aiming to significantly increase Pakistan’s apparel exports and economic impact besides generating significant employment opportunities to alleviate poverty.
He added that the establishment of industrial parks is projected to boost export revenue by USD 2 billion annually in the first phase by providing a conducive environment for production, enhancing competitiveness in the global market and USD 12 billion per annum after completion.
Shafi said that by relocation of Chinese Apparel Plants, Pakistan can get tremendous benefits especially when Pakistan has much lower tariff in the US as compared with its traditional competitors like China, Vietnam, Bangladesh etc. He proposed to organize trade show to attract Chinese investment for the proposed industrial parks in the province of Punjab.
He said that US textile market is valued at USD 113 billion with Pakistan’s share of only USD 3.9 billion or 3.5 percent of US imports. As against this, Bangladesh accounted for 6.4 percent, India 9 percent, Vietnam 14 percent and China over 25 percent. He continued that if Pakistan is able to even marginally get a portion of the US textile imports, Pakistan’s textile exports would increase by more than USD 5 Billion per annum.