Pakistan’s tanners encouraged by government promises
31/01/2019
A senior government representative, Abdul Razzaq Dawood, presided over the opening ceremony and held a series of talks with leather industry representatives at the event.
Following the meetings, the Pakistan Tanners’ Association (PTA) said it was encouraged by the level of support that Mr Razzaq Dawood pledged, especially with regard to helping leather manufacturers reduce the cost of doing business. Concrete examples they mentioned included streamlining access to sales tax and customs duty refunds and providing government subsidies of as much as 75% of the cost of submitting products for testing in international laboratories.
Creating dedicated leather manufacturing parks and subsidising the participation of Pakistani leather companies at international events are other possibilities.
Something else that came to light after the meetings is that the government of Pakistan will consider helping tanners there achieve certification from multi-stakeholder body the Leather Working Group. PTA chairman, Agha Saddain, commented: “If our problems are resolved, we will double our exports in the next four years from a figure of $950 million in financial year 2017-2018.”
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