Pakistan’s textile industry and leading Chinese textile and clothing associations’ leadership have agreed to form a joint working group for providing match-making services to the prospective investors in realizing new projects in textile industry through joint ventures.

In this respect, APTMA central chairman |Ahsan Bashir welcomed the Chinese businessmen delegation at the APTMA House Punjab. The visiting high-powered Chinese delegation included Gao Yong, President and Secretary General CNTAC, Yang Shibin, Assistant President CNTAC and Chairman China Knitting Industrial Association, Mdm Yuan Hongping, Deputy Secretary General CNTAC and Director of Foreign Affairs office CNTAC, Mdm Zhu Beina, Chairman China Cotton Textile Association, Feng Dehu, Vice Chairman China National Garment Association and Chen Jing, General Manager CTMTC. Syed Maratab Ali, Vice Chairman Punjab Board of Investment and Trade (PBIT), and Bashir Ali Muhammad, former chairman APTMA and President International Textile Manufacturers Federation (ITMF), also accompanied the delegation.

Both sides held detailed discussion on the expansion of trade and investment relations between China and Pakistan through joint venture projects and spreading trade in textiles, including spinning, weaving, processing and garment.

Chairman APTMA presented Pakistan textile industry facts to the delegation. He said APTMA has recently taken vital growth-oriented initiatives including Sustainable Production Centre (SPC), Renewable Energy andand Energy Efficiency (REEE), Cotton Research, Support and Management, Textile Education, Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR), Better Cotton Initiatives (BCI) and Energy Security Initiatives.

He apprised the delegation of potential areas of investment in textile industry of Pakistan. He said power generation, textile dyeing and finishing, textile machinery assembly/manufacturing, man-made fiber manufacturing, denim, twill, drill, shirting materials, technical textiles and logistics/cargo were a few potential areas for investment in Pakistan. He expressed the hope that fresh investment in textile industry of Pakistan would be in line with new opportunities like normalization of trade ties with India, market access under GSP+ and a growing domestic market of 180 million people in Pakistan.

The textile trade between China and Pakistan is already on increase, he added.