Abdul Razzak Dawood inaugurated Textile Exhibition in Lahore

Lahore : Prime Minister’s Advisor on Commerce and Textile Abdul Razzak Dawood said that Pakistan
was ready to take its economy forward but the task required sustained efforts.

Talking to media after inaugurating the 2nd International Textile Exhibition (TEXPO) at the EXPO Centre here on Thursday, he said that visitors from abroad term Pakistan as competitive  business ground for the foreign investors.

Thanking all guests from inland and abroad,Razzak Dawood said that such Expos would help enhance exports of the country, adding that a good response for TEXPO was received from the foreigners which was a good sign.

He said that Small and Medium-Sized Enterprises
(SMEs) should be facilitated and the ministry had several meetings with the Federal Board of Revenue (FBR) in this regard. “Supply chain is not correct for SMEs which needs special attention for improvement,” he added.

To a question, he said that in a meeting with traders of
Faisalabad,they informed that they had received more orders in March than in July 2018 due to government’s policies. “No doubt inflation has increased, however, the situation will improve in next six months”,he said.

PM’s Advisor said that Prime Minister Imran Khan was
going to China on April 28 and he would sign second
phase of Free Trade Agreement (FTA). “We will request China to provide access to Pakistani products to its market as it was giving to the ASEAN (Association of Southeast Asian Nations) countries,” he added.

He said that Indonesia was giving duty free access for
Pakistani products to its markets. He said that the government was working on textile policy which would be completed till the end of the current month and
several things would be initiated.”I am very much hopeful for progress of the industry,” he added.

He added that value addition should be improved
for betterment,saying the duty on raw material was reduced for this purpose in consecutive two mini budgets.
He said quality of Pakistani products was good and
European traders were attracted to Pakistani products.

The Advisor said that export volume decreased in
the month of March and the government was working on the evaluation of reasons behind this decline. “The country is facing giant challenges which are creating issues in increase of exports,” he added.

He stressed on need to focus on the World Bank report on Pakistan’s economy. He hoped that export of Pakistani products would increase in the next two years.

Earlier,the Advisor inaugurated the expo and visited different stalls.