LAHORE, June 07(ABC): Newly appointed Trade Officers of Pakistan have sought assistance and cooperation from the All Pakistan Textile Mills Association (APTMA) in upsurging textile exports of the country and exploring investment potential in the textile sector.
A 14-member delegation of officers selected from different occupational groups for posting in Pakistani missions abroad as Consul Generals, Ministers, Consulars and attachés visited APTMA Lahore office on Monday.
Chairman APTMA Mr Abdul Rahim Nasir, Chairman APTMA Northern Zone Mr Hamid Zaman, Senior Vice Chairman APTMA Mr Kamran Arshad and Secretary-General APTMA North, Mr Raza Baqir welcomed the delegation.
Exchanging views during their visit to the APTMA, Trade & Investment Officers underlined the need to hold regular online meetings with APTMA members so that they could jointly explore trade and investment opportunities and create strong linkages between the business communities of Pakistan and the host countries.
Speaking on the occasion, Chairman APTMA Abdul Mr Rahim Nasir said the textile sector alone represents 46% of the total manufacturing sector and around 40% of the total labour force. He informed that textile exports of US$15.4 billion registered in FY21 are expected to fetch $20 billion by the close of the current financial year. He added that the performance of textile exports during May this year was highly recommendable recording an upsurge of 50% over the last year and it was encouraging to note that the value-added sector in textile has shown unprecedented growth.
Rahim said the trade and investment officers serving the country’s missions in over 50 countries can play an important role to boost up exports. He suggested that these officers should participate in all exhibitions and prepare reports for the trade Associations and general exporters to help explore new markets and exploit trade opportunities.
Talking on this occasion, Hamid Zaman, Chairman APTMA North said that Trade Officers should act vibrantly and explore all the major markets and commercial centers in the countries of their posting to help augment exports. He further added that the trade missions abroad should facilitate the foreign buyers and investors during visa processing so that they could make business trips to Pakistan easily. He stressed on setting up of trade facilitation centres across the global markets.