A group executive for the British multinational retailer Marks & Spencer Group claimed that the company aims to increase its imports of Pakistani textile products such as woven clothing, denim, and towels, as per local media reports.
In a meeting with the All Pakistan Textile Mills Association (APTMA) on Monday, Unsal Erdogan, country manager for Turkey for the Marks & Spencer Group, said that experts from M&S will travel to Pakistan in September to engage with the textile mills.
He was leading a group that included Funda Binoz, M&S’s business area manager for lingerie, menswear, home goods, outlets, and merchandisers, Buket Ferreira and Seher Sbirakmaz.
The organization, according to Erdogan, will import woven clothing, denim, socks, towels, graphic design T-shirts, and polo shirts from Pakistan.
According to APTMA, the delegation members expressed interest in learning more about the potential of Pakistan’s textile sector and its impending problems.
The M&S delegation was invited by Hamid Zaman, the North Zone Chairman of the APTMA, to establish sourcing offices in Pakistan.
He thought that GSP+ opened up a market for Pakistani exports to Europe and gave them access to rival nations like Bangladesh and Sri Lanka.
Zaman believed Pakistan’s GSP+ facility would be renewed.
Pakistan complies with 27 treaties related to human rights, the environment, labor rights, drug control, fighting corruption, and gender equality, among others. The nation’s adherence to six new conventions will improve Pakistan’s reputation, he said.
The establishment of more stitching plants in the nation, according to former APTMA chief Aamir Fayyaz, may boost textile exports to $50 billion.
Fayyaz asserts that the textile industry is benefiting from a competitive edge due to high labor wages, the depreciation of the local currency, and the nation’s youthful labor force.
