Gohar Ejaz Group wins APTMA elections for 14th consecutive time

Dr Ejaz says new investment of $5b has been made in textile sector

ISLAMABAD:

Dr Gohar Ejaz Group on Wednesday swept the All Pakistan Textile Mills Association (APTMA) Annual Elections of 2022-23 for the 14th consecutive year.

Dr Gohar Ejaz is the Patron in Chief of APTMA and Raza Baqir is the Secretary-General of the body. Baqir announced the election results and declared that "Mr Rehman Naseem, Mr Zahid Rasheed Khawja, Mr Syed Ali Ahsan, Mr S.M. Tanveer, Mr Hamid Zaman, Mr Shaiq Jawed, Mr Muhammad Anees Khawaja, Mr Asad Shafi, Mr Amanullah Kassim, Mr Imran Maqbool, Mr Muhammad Junaid, Mr Naveed Ahmed, Mr Zahid Mazhar and Mr Zohair Dilawar Agha have been elected as members of the Central Executive Committee of APTMA".

"Mr Hamid Zaman has been elected as Chairman, Mr Kamran Arshad and Kh. Muhammad Anees as Vice Chairman; Mr Asad Shafi as Treasurer and Mr Haroon Shahzada Ellahi Shaikh, Omar Latif Chaudhry, Umair Abid, S. M. Nabeel, Muhammad Ali Ch, Ahsan Shahid Waraich, Shahroze Ahmad, Haroon Shahid and Sufyan Akhtar as members of Zonal Managing Committee," Baqir added while announcing the results of the zonal election.

Dr Ejaz congratulated his group members for securing the 14^th consecutive victory in the annual elections of APTMA both at the Central and Zonal levels.

He felicitated the newly elected members of the managing committees and the office bearers of the Northern zone. “I hope that the newly-elected leadership would work hard to strengthen the export potential of the textile industry,” he said.

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“Textile exports of the country were stagnant at $12-13b till 2018-19 owing to multiple issues especially energy tariff and non-availability of energy for the textile industry and the consequent hectic efforts made by the group, Regionally Competitive Energy Tariff was approved by the Government for export-oriented sectors both for electricity and gas. The energy tariff costs not more than 2.67% to the country but contributed to the growing textile exports to $19.33b during 2021-22 registering growth of 26% over the preceding year and over 54% in short span of three years,” Dr Ejaz added.

“New investment of $5b has been made in textile sector which has the potential to give extraordinary growth to textile exports, provided business-friendly environments are continued to be extended to textile and other export-oriented sectors.”

With the view to foster exports and boost up the economy of the country, Dr Ejaz unveiled his vision for the future economy and announced launching a road to $50b exports by moving to stitching sector and conversion of $3b yarn and fabrics of the country into value-added garments for exports fetching addition export of $10b.

He announced the establishment of a Garment Training Centre under the auspices of APTMA to train manpower for employment in the vast expanding garment sector. He said, "Extending of soft term loans of Rs250-300m to train men and women would inflate exports to more than $50b in less than five years leaving no requirement for borrowing loans from foreign donors."

Dr Ejaz also announced the establishment of a 'Pakistan Economic Forum' consisting of professional exports from the field of economy to analyse the economic woes of the country and to prepare blue print for economic revival and development of an economic vision for the next 10 years.

He reiterated that sustainable export-led economic growth is imperative for the development of the country in order to create additional jobs in the country and to earn more foreign exchange for economic stability of the country.

He is hopeful about better cotton crop this year despite heavy rains and floods in the country. He said “Offering of global cotton prices to local farmers has grossly helped in enhancing cotton production.”

However, he also expressed his sympathy towards the flood-stricken people and announced contribution of Rs250m on behalf of APTMA to the Flood Relief Fund of the Federal Government and vowed to support the country in time of need.

Dr Ejaz highly appreciated the outgoing APTMA leadership for leading the industry in critical times especially during the pandemic and fiscal and energy constrains. He hoped that the incoming elected office bearers and members of Managing Committees would accelerate their efforts in promoting textile exports from the country and for economic uplift of Pakistan.

Outgoing Chairman Abdul Rahim Nasir thanked Dr Ejaz for all his support, vision and guidance to put textile sector on right track. He also thanked all APTMA members for their continued support during his chairmanship.