LAHORE: The All Pakistan Textile Mills Association (APTMA) has invited Primark, an international fashion retailer, to open offices in Pakistan.
A delegation of Primark visited the APTMA Lahore office on Thursday. The delegation consisted of Mathew Rhodes, Head of Sourcing and John Steven, Director Supply Chain.
Patron-in-Chief APTMA  Gohar Ejaz, Chairman APTMA North Zone Hamid Zaman، Senior Vice Chairman Mr Kamran Arshad, former Chairman  Aamir Fayyaz, former Chairman Adil Bashir and Habib Anwar welcomed the delegation on the occasion.
The visiting delegation head maintained that Pakistan has huge potential to export all sorts of textile products because of the diversification of exports.
He said the GSP plus facility offers enormous benefits to European importers to import from Pakistan.
Speaking on the occasion, Patron-in-Chief APTMA Gohar Ejaz said EU is Pakistan’s largest trading partner.
He said GSP+ allows access to Pakistani exports to compete with its competitors such as Bangladesh, Sri Lanka etc. which already avail GSP+.
GSP+ status makes Pakistan eligible to export 78% of its 4 products duty free in the EU, he said and added that this facility would encourage enhanced foreign investment ahead.
According to him, the GSP plus opens a window for Pakistani exports especially when China is losing market.
He said Pakistan was complying with 27 conventions relating to human rights, environment, labor rights, narcotics control, corruption control, gender rights etc.
Compliance with six new conventions will further uplift Pakistan’s image.
Chairman APTMA North Zone Hamid Zaman said there is huge potential for enhancing exports to $50 billion through the stitching revolution in Pakistan.
According to him, the textile industry is planning to set up 1000 garment plants.
Each plant consists of 500 stitching machines at an investment of $7 million and would be able to produce garments for exports of $20 million per annum while generating employment for 700 workers.
The total investment would be US $7 billion generating annual exports of $20 billion and providing employment to well over 700,000 workers, he added.
Earlier, Senior Vice Chairman Kamran Arshad made a detailed presentation on the importance of the textile industry in Pakistan. He said the APTMA member mills are 100% compliant corporate entities and performance of industries is strictly monitored by international and national agencies.
He said the industry is compliant with International and local sustainability standards like SA 8000, Oeko Tex made for green, Step etc.
He said the industry is working out an action plan to invest in pollution-control technologies and move away from fossil fuels besides setting up of effluent and water treatment plants, investment in material innovations and enabling a Green Environment and Socially responsible industry.
