Apparel sector manages to win back R&D support
Source: Fibre2fashion News Desk - India Date: 2008-08-04
Government of Pakistan has agreed to provide the 6 percent Research and Development (R&D) support for the apparel sector which will continue till June 30, 2009.
In an exclusive interview with Fibre2fashion, Mr Athar Ahmed, Deputy Secretary General of Pakistan Readymade Garments Manufacturers & Exporters Association stated that “the Ministry of finance has agreed to provide & continue 6 percent R&D support for apparel sector only for one year. However, approval from the Economic Advisory Council still needs to be taken and the final decision will be declared soon.”
A meeting regarding this was conducted with Mr Syed Naveed Qamar, Federal Minister for Finance, Privatization & Investment. Representative delegation of Pakistan Apparel Forum having representation of Pakistan Hosiery Manufactures Association (PHMA), Pakistan Readymade Garments Manufacturers & Exporters Association (PRGMEA), PN & SA and Pakistan Cotton Fashion Apparel Association (PCFAA) also took part in the discussions.
As a matter of fact, the amount of R&D support for the garment sector has also not been disclosed although the industry had proposed for Rs30 billion.
Mr Qamar, on part of the Government, assured the delegation that all efforts would be made to resolve the problem of market access currently being faced by the industry. But, of course, the apparel sector would have to cooperate with the center in strengthening the economy which in turn will benefit the business group.
The Government has also pledged to offer improved incentives and better schemes for the Export Oriented Units (EoUs). In fact, the EoU scheme is expected to provide incentives more favorable than those available to the EoUs in Exports Processing Zones EPZs.
EoUs would help promote establishment of local export oriented industrial units and the foreign revenues earned by these units would remain within the country, which is not so in case of units located in export processing zones as they are free to repatriate their profits out of the country.
Besides, in order to make basic raw material available for the textile sector, the Government would also formulate an export policy on yarn and cotton.
