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Pakistan gets GSP Plus status
European Union, which has been an
important trading bloc for Pakistan,
has given Generalised Scheme of
Preferences (GSP) Plus status to
the country till 2023. This will allow
Pakistan to boost its exports to
the region.
The EU accounted for 12.8 per cent
of Pakistan’s total trade in 2015 and
absorbed 23.7 per cent of Pakistan’s
exports. More than 80 per cent of
Pakistan’s exports to the EU consist
of textile and clothing. Pakistan’s
imports from the bloc mainly
consist of machinery and transport
equipment as well as chemicals.
“Almost 72 per cent of Pakistan’s
exports to the EU go to the UK,
Germany, Spain, the Netherlands
and Italy,” informed Lahore Chamber
of Commerce and Industry (LCCI)
President Abdul Basit.
Pakistan is mulling opportunities of
market penetration in other countries
like Greece, Slovenia and Ireland. The
enhanced trade preferences under GSP
Plus are of particular importance to
Pakistan’s textile and clothing industry.
Vietnam to benefit from
RCEP membership
According to Vu Duc Giang,
Chairman of Vietnam Textile
and Apparel Association
(VITAS), Vietnam is negotiating
for the Regional Comprehensive
Economic Partnership (RCEP),
which may bring innumerable
benefits to the country’s garment
and textile sector in terms of
cost, market scale, and supply of
materials.
The local Bao Cong Thuong
(Industry and Trade News)
online newspaper quoted
Giang as remarking that the
RCEP membership will be a huge
boost for Vietnamese garment and
textile industry as the country
will not have to bear many trade
barriers. The RCEP covers 16
countries, including 10 members
of the Association of the Southeast
Asian Nations and their regional
trading partners of India, Japan,
China, South Korea, Australia and
New Zealand.
Giang predicts that the garment
and textile exports from Vietnam
would experience a growth of 13-14
per cent in 2017, compared to 9.2
per cent in 2016. He, however, adds
that the deeper the integration is,
the fiercer the competition will be,
and thereby urges local companies
to enhance management to ensure
providing products with more
competitive price, excellent quality
and shorter delivery time.
34 Apparel Online Bangladesh | MAY 2017 | www.apparelresources.com
Indian apparel
exporters divided
on FTA with UK/EU
Indian textile and apparel industry has been for a long time
looking to have a Free Trade Agreement (FTA) with the
EU, but now after Brexit it is being said that India should
prefer to have FTA with the UK because discussion with the
EU is taking a lot of time. Negotiations have now started
with the UK and the deal will take effect when the island
nation exits the EU. Britain will work for a “future FTA”
with India, one of its key investment and trading partners,
British Chancellor of the exchequer Philip Hammond said
after a three-and-a-half-hour marathon meeting with Indian
Finance Minister Arun Jaitley. He was addressing the 9th
India-UK Economic & Financial Dialogue in New Delhi.
Apparel Resources talked to various Indian apparel
exporters regarding this and most of them prefer to have
FTA with the UK as things are not moving with the US.
However, few exporters still prefer to have things finalized
with the EU… Sudhir Dhingra, CMD, Orient Craft, Gurgaon
(Haryana) says, “In today’s world where Brexit is happening
and Trump is in the power in the US, India has a great
opportunity to negotiate beneficial trade agreements on
bilateral basis, with all our importing partners particularly
in UK, US and Europe. These countries need India to sell
their merchandise and gain market share in Indian market,
which must be used as a tool to the advantage of Indian
garment industry. This is the only way Indian garment
industry will grow and millions of jobs created, which India
is in dire need of.”
Arun Jain, Director of Jain Shawls, Ludhiana (Punjab)
shares: “India should avoid this agreement with the UK as
it will affect our relations with the EU. India should only
concentrate on the EU, and put more efforts to do these
kinds of agreements as it is a more potential market for
us.” Ramesh Verma, President, Diamond Exports, Panipat
(Harya