LAHORE: All Pakistan Textile Mills Association (APTMA) Chairman Aamir Fayyaz has welcomed the Rs 180 billion package announced by the prime minister to boost exports. Addressing a press conference at the APTMA Punjab Office on Friday, he said he had held four meetings with the prime minister over the last four months and apprised him of the terrible state of affairs in the textile industry due to high cost of doing business. “The prime minister was kind enough to hold lengthy discussions in each meeting in order to devise the export-led growth strategy,” he added. He said the prime minister showed concern over the decline in exports and an increase in trade deficit, which has reached $14 billion during first half of the current fiscal. “We explained him [PM] about high cost of doing business that had impacted export sector viability and also apprised the government of the support extended by the competing countries like India, Bangladesh and Vietnam to their export industries,” he added. The APTMA chief appreciated the prime minister for taking a bold decision for the export sector of Pakistan, which includes tax-free import of cotton and man-made fibre, besides offering duty drawback on exports, including 4% on greige fabric, 5% on processed fabric, 6% on home textile made-up, and 7% on garments against realisation of import proceeds. He also appreciated the role of Punjab Chief Minister Shahbaz Sharif, Finance Minister Ishaq Dar, Commerce Minister Khurram Dastgir, Minister for Water and Power Kh Asif, Special Assistant to the Prime Minister on Revenue Haroon Akhtar, Special Assistant to the PM and Chairman Board of Investment Dr Miftah Ismail this regard. APTMA Punjab Chairman Syed Ali Ahsan expressed the hope that the package would boost the country’s exports and positive results would be in the offing within the next six months with the availability of a fighting chance against competitors. He added that the issue of energy availability had been resolved to an extent but the issue of high cost of energy was yet to be resolved, and urged the government to provide electricity at Rs 7/kWh and gas, including RLNG, at Rs 600 per MMBTU – inclusive of GIDC – to the textile industry across the country.