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MULTAN, Jun 13 (APP):Partnership between country’s ace cotton research body, Pakistan Central Cotton Committee (PCCC), and All Pakistan Textile Mills Association (APTMA), a bunch of Pakistan’s textile magnates, can prove to be a game changer in reestablishing national cotton value chain from fiber to fabric and garments to new highs.
This was stated by Vice President PCCC Dr. Yousuf Zafar in a telephonic conversation with Kunwar Usman, the Textile section head of International Cotton Advisory Committee (ICAC), based in Washington D.C, according to a statement issued by Sajid Mahmood, the Transfer of Technology head of Central Cotton Research Institute (CCRI) Multan, one of the many research facilities operational under the PCCC umbrella.
Kunwar Usman spent 20 years working in various sectors of textile value chain, the last fourteen (14) of which were spent working as Director R&D and Director General in the Textile Division of Pakistan’s commerce ministry, before he joined the ICAC as the Textile Head back in Aug 2021, according to ICAC web site.
The ICAC Textile section head felicitated Dr. Yousuf Zafar on taking over his new assignment as the Vice President of PCCC and promised technical assistance from ICAC to help Pakistan match modern trends in its cotton value chain.
The two luminaries from different segments of cotton value chain discussed at length the possibilities of PCCC’s partnership with private sector and how it can set into motion a new growth-oriented mechanism through innovative ideas.
Dr. Yousuf Zafar apprised the ICAC Textile head of the initiatives to encourage cotton research aimed at enhancing per acre production and meeting all quality related aspects.
He thanked Kunwar Usman for extending support to Pakistan’s cotton value chain.
Dr. Yousuf Zafar said that harmonizing resources and skills of private sector particularly APTMA and PCCC carried far reaching impact on cotton value chain.
He said that the initiatives he was taking and the future strategy were meant to meeting important challenges in cotton sector and how to translate opportunities into national gains.
PCCC and APTMA together can build a strong cotton economy by virtue of striking balance in PCCC’s technical and non-technical human resources, strengthening research facilities, enforcing financial discipline and promoting better cotton and national breeding programmes. This partnership, he added, would also ensure better earnings to farmers by virtue of better production in quality and quantity, and would make access of textile sector to fine quality raw material easy.
The long term partnership would trigger research and development, promote adaptability to modernity and entrepreneurship and all this would translate into enhanced exports, GDP growth to strengthen national economy.
Pakistan can emerge as a bigger player in the international cotton market by virtue of this partnership, Dr Yousuf Zafar said.