FAISALABAD:All Pakistan Bed-sheet & Upholstery Manufacturers’ Association (APBUMA) Senior Vice Chairman Captain (Retired) Farooq Khan urged the federal government to convince the German Embassy to issue visas to maximum Pakistani exporters intending to participate in Heimtextil-2023 at Frankfurt, Germany.
Chairing a meeting of APBUMA, he underlined the importance of Heimtextil for the export sector of Pakistan and said that it is the biggest global fair of home textile products in which Pakistan has expertise and could easily compete with other countries because of its quality products at a comparatively cheaper rate.
He disclosed that the majority of visa applications of exporters have been denied which is a shocking experience for the SME sector in particular.
Chairman APBUMA North Zone Engineer Muhammad Bilal Jameel said that the government must take notice of this situation and intervene so that maximum Pakistani exporters could participate and showcase their products in this fair. He said that Heimtextil-2023 is very important for the textile sector of Pakistan as it provides exporters an opportunity to get orders and run their factories round the year to fulfill the demand of the European buyers.
“If exporters are not allowed to participate in this fair, it would deprive Pakistan of approximately 5 billion dollars expected to be earned through orders procured during this fair”, said Arif Ehsan Malik former Central Chairman APBUMA. He was optimistic that the government of Pakistan would take this issue seriously as Pakistan needed maximum export orders to stabilize its dwindling exports.