Head of the Economics Department, Embassy of France in Pakistan, Marc Murcia visited All Pakistan Textile Mills Association (APTMA) Punjab on Wednesday.

Chairman APTMA Punjab Shahzad Ali Khan welcomed him at the APTMA Punjab office while Senior Vice Chairman APTMA Punjab Mian Mahmood Ahsan, S M Imran and other Executive Committee members were also present on the occasion.

Chairman APTMA Punjab said the APTMA members travel to Europe frequently. He urged the French envoy to ensure easier visa facility for APTMA members to increase bilateral trade between the two countries.

Head of International Trade Committee Amir Fayyaz made a detailed presentation on APTMA. He said APTMA was established in 1957 and number of members has reached 395. Sustainable Production Centre, Renewable Energy & Energy Efficiency Initiative, Cotton Research, Support & Management,

Textile Education and Better Cotton Initiative are a few major steps taken APTMA recently in the larger interest of its members, he added. Further, APTMA is very active on Corporate Social Responsibility under the APTMA Welfare Foundation.

According to him, market access constraint is hampering growth of textile industry in Pakistan. He expressed the hope that the proposed market access under the GSP plus would create many jobs in Pakistan.

He said the textile industry is the largest employer in Pakistan but sharp decline in exports to Europe and especially France is a matter of grave concern for industry. Highlighting the APTMA-EU joint initiatives, he said image building of Pakistan is a challenge for textile industry before getting a big share in total textile imports of EU.