Chairman of the Trade Development Authority of Pakistan S M Munir confirmed that Nawaz Sharif would meet textile industry representatives on September 11. He was talking to Business Recorder in an opening ceremony of a three-day international textile Asia exhibition at the Expo Centre in Lahore said the premier had invited four representatives from each association of the textile industry. "The premier will hold meetings with each delegation on individual basis."

There are 11 associations of the textile industry, representing both basic and value-added textile sectors. The association has pushed the premier in resolving the cost relating issues of the industry. Both Gohar Ejaz and SM Tanveer have recently briefed the premier on textile industry issues on his way to Kazakhstan. Prior to it federal Finance Minister Ishaq Dar had also held meetings with the association and pledged to deal with the issues.

When asked about the benefit of the GSP plus facility of Pakistan, Chairman Munir said the benefit had been mitigated by a shortage of water in Karachi and electricity in Lahore. "Textile industry exports have registered a decline of four and a half percent due to unavoidable circumstances," he responded. "However, the situation is likely to take a turnaround as the government has exempted the textile industry from electricity loadshedding in Punjab."

Copyright Business Recorder, 2015