Commerce Minister Khurram Dastgir Khan finally admitting that there are some other reasons for declining trend in the country’s textile exports on Wednesday constituted a committee to bring about a Policy Action Plan (PAP) to put right the hurdles faced by the textile industry in increasing its exports.

The committee will be presenting its recommendations in the next month, which would then be forwarded to the prime minister for swift decisions in order to reverse the declining trend in Pakistani exports.

This was decided during a meeting chaired by the commerce minister and was attended by Trade Development Authority of Pakistan (TDAP) CEO S M Muneer and Federation of Pakistan Chambers of Commerce and Industry (FPCCI) President Mian Muhammad Idrees.

The committee was headed by Commerce Secretary Muhammad Shahzad Arbab and comprised of representatives of the Ministry of Textile Industry, All Pakistan Textile Mills Association (APTMA) and FPCCI.

The minister was apprised by the APTMA on the multifarious issues faced by the domestic textile industry that have rendered the industry uncompetitive as compared to the regional competitors.

The APTMA representatives demanded that the industry is in dire need of support from the government as the international competitors in textile sector are eroding Pakistan’s preferences. The government should also take stern and swift steps in cases where dumping and smuggling of goods are reported.

APTMA also proposed to bring about a level playing field for Pakistani textile producer as the regional competitors are heavily subsidizing and supporting their textile industry.

The minister has directed the committee to hold negotiations with all 14 associations of the textile sector and bring about viable proposals keeping view the constraints faced by the government.

The minister ordered to mitigate the issue of electricity provision, electricity tariffs, small taxes on textile value chain, rising cost of production of Pakistani textile products as compared to the regional competitors, lack of new investments in the textile sector, export incentives for the textile industry, availability of finances for the sector and the declining share of Pakistani textiles in the world exports.