ISLAMABAD: Pakistan’s Ambassador to the United States (US) Masood Khan has said Pakistan’s apparel sector is undergoing profound transformation and is positioning itself for robust export growth.
He made these remarks during a public hearing by US International Trade Commission (ITC) on export competitiveness of the apparel industries in Bangladesh, Cambodia, India, Indonesia and Pakistan in the US market in Washington DC.
Masood Khan said individual companies in Pakistan are adopting advanced traceability technologies to consciously champion supply chain transparency in alignment with global requirements, according to a press release received here on Tuesday from Washington DC.
He said under Net Zero Pakistan Initiative, leading apparel companies are committed to accelerating the transition to sustainability and delivering Net Zero goal by 2050. He also highlighted that the US is the largest export destination for Pakistan.
The envoy said Pakistan has a 3.3 percent share of the US market in the textiles and apparel segment, however, all the exports of apparel products are subject to applicable MFN tariffs of up to 38.3 percent as Pakistan does not enjoy preferential access to the US market.
He pointed out that Pakistan is the fifth largest cotton producer in the world and it is making concerted endeavors to increase cotton productivity and transition towards sustainable development.
Masood Khan also pointed out that Pakistan followed a liberal investment regime that offered conducive environment to attract foreign and local investors.
He said during the last few years, the sector has attracted approximately 5 billion dollars of fresh local investment for expansion of the textiles and apparel manufacturing chain, including imports of around 2.2 billion dollars worth of new machinery from 2019 to 2023.
The sector, therefore, has the capacity to ramp up the scale of apparel manufacturing further, Masood Khan added. He said Pakistan’s customer base is diverse, and many prominent U.S enterprises and retailers, most of them Fortune 500, are already sourcing their products from Pakistan.
He said Pakistani apparel exporters look forward to reinforcing the strong historical trade relations between the two countries.
