纺织部呼吁服装产品免关税进入美国市场

作者:本网报道 | 时间:2011-09-27 15:21:13 | 订阅《东方纺织》周刊

Textile sector seeks duty-free export of apparel to US
The textile sector entrepreneurs have asked a visiting US government delegation to provide access to at least apparel products of Pakistan on zero import duty.
The delegation, comprising executive officer of US president’s office, Trade Specialist of USTR for South Asia and an official of the US embassy, met textile businessmen in Lahore to discuss market access issues.
The US delegation conceded that there were problems in immediate approval by the US Senate of the law about reconstruction opportunities zone in Pakistan’s earthquake- and terrorism-hit regions of Pakistan.
The ROZ bill was passed by the US House of Representatives on June 11, 2009. Since then the bill has not been taken up by the US Senate.
Sources in the meeting informed The News that when the US delegation sought alternative proposals from the businessmen, they requested duty-free access to value-added apparel sector even if with a ceiling of $1 billion in additional exports.
The participants of the meeting pointed out that Pakistan is a minor player in US apparel market of $55.293 billion with exports of only $1.493 billion.
They further pointed out that the apparel exports from Pakistan to United States are at the same level as in 2008 and its share remains stagnant at 2.09 percent.
During the same period China, Vietnam, Indonesia and Bangladesh increased their exports by 22, 13, 10 and 14 percent, respectively, commanding share of 33, 25, 15 and 12 percent in the overall imports of apparel in the US in 2010.
They said even with the $1 billion ceiling, it would revive 30 percent of the closed textile capacities in the first year alone.
They said it would be followed by new yearly investments of $800 million from second year onwards. Since the access would be in labour-intensive apparel sector, it would create 10 million new jobs, 60 percent of them for women.
They said that apparel exporters from Pakistan would grab a small share of other leading exporters to the United States.
They pointed out that currently the majority of apparel exporters are medium-sized enterprises.
They said that these businesses would grow bigger once they get market access in the same way as the apparel sector in Bangladesh.
The sources said that the US delegation avoided making any commitment. It, however, promised that these proposals would be discussed at the higher level when they go back to the United States.
译文如下：
纺织部呼吁服装产品免关税进入美国市场
纺织部企业代表已强烈要求与美国政府代表会面，要求美国官方开放市场，至少对巴基斯坦服装产品实施零关税政策。
美国代表团成员包括美国总统办公室执行官，美国南亚贸易代表，以及美国大使馆代表，与纺织部代表们在拉合尔（巴基斯坦城市）就开放市场问题进行商讨。
美国代表承认，对于巴基斯坦地震区及其恐怖主义匿藏区等特殊地区，美国参议院是不可能将其法律法规立即进行重订的。
2009/6/11，美国众议院通过了ROZ法案。但是美国参议院并未通过该法案。
据参会人员透露，当美国代表团向纺织贸易商们寻求替代性建议时，他们果断选择了要求美国对增值服装行业市场进行开放，即便附加出口额上限被限定为10亿美元。
参会者指出，巴基斯坦在美国服装市场上只是一个小角色而已，在美国服装总进口额$552.93亿中，巴基斯坦的份额仅为$14.93亿。
另有人指出，巴基斯坦向美国出口的服装数量与2008年相比持平，所占份额依然为2.09%。
在此期间，中国，越南，印度尼西亚和孟加拉的服装出口分别上涨了22%，13%，10%和14%。在美国2011年度服装进口量中分别占据33%，25%，15%和12%。
商界表示，即便上限被定为10亿美元，第一年，各国对美国服装出口量能够上涨30%。
他们表示，从第二年开始，服装行业投资将以每年8亿美元的速度增长。由于服装行业是劳动密集型产业，市场开放政策将带来1千万个新工作岗位，而其中60%是女性职位。
与其他出口大国家相比，巴基斯坦向美国的服装输出将只是一小部分而已。
目前，主要服装出口商为中型企业。
一旦这些公司得到市场准入政策，就像孟加拉那样，他们的企业将会很快做大做强。
市场人士表示，美国代表团避免做出任何承诺。但是，他们保证回国后，这些提议上层们将再进行研讨。

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