SIALKOT: Sialkot based sports goods manufacturers and exporters have demanded a special package of trade related incentives by government especially the direly needed Research & Development funds for upgrading and modernizing the export-oriented sports goods industry of Sialkot. They said that the sports goods manufacturing industry was in dire need of government patronage and support as well.
They added “The government’s encouragement and patronization was also vital for sports goods industry which could also help business community in playing its pivotal role in pulling out the national economy from the stressful condition, besides, strengthening the national economy through increasing the exports”.
Sialkot based leading exporters of the sports goods including Riazud Din Sheikh, Khawaja Masud Akhtar, Dr. Nouman Idrees Butt, Maj (Rtd( Mansur Ahmed Khawar Anwar Khawaja, Qaisar Iqbal Baryar , Khurram Anwar Khawaja, Prof. Safdar Sandal, Mian Naeem Javaid, Tahir Majeed Kapur and Kashif Almas, while talking to the newsmen here today, demanded that the advanced manufacturing and production technologies should immediately be brought in Pakistan from abroad for developing and boosting the Sialkot-Pakistan’s sports goods industry to meet the global trade challenges, saying that the induction of advanced manufacturing techniques would help a lot boom up more than a century old sports goods industry, which has been using the traditional technique of manufacturing as well.
They urged the Trade Development Authority of Pakistan (TDAP) to prepare an ultra-modern advanced trade strategy for ensuring the maximum consumption of Sialkot made traditional and nontraditional sports goods in -he international and world trade markets.
Sialkot represents an industrial setup producing specialized products that are supplied to top brands and buyers all over the world, they added.
In Sialkot, the more than a century old Sialkot’s sports goods industry still remains in dire need of early transfer of mechanized foot balls manufacturing technology from European countries to Sialkot-Pakistan, as the decades old manufacturing methods of hand stitched footballs has been described as main hurdle in the smooth way of enhancing the soccer ball exports from Sialkot.
They said that after successfully handling the western countries’ poisonous propaganda regarding the usage of child labour in Sialkot’s soccer ball industry, this industry was now striving for its survival. They added that despite the repeated appeals made by the Sialkot based exporters, the sports goods industry, especially the soccer ball industry was facing several multiple problems including the improper government patronage, lack of advanced manufacturing technology and up gradation and modernization of soccer ball industry.
They urged the government to take appropriate step for extending the facility of “Research and Development” to Sialkot-Pakistan’s Sports Goods industry ,enabling it to cope with the global market in the presence of modern trends and customs demands.
They said that the Sialkot soccer ball exporters have also floated the concept of establishing an international standard Soccer Village at Sialkot, they revealed.
They revealed that there was a dire need of increasing public interest by opening state of the art institutions for imparting a standard technical and professional education which could benefit masses for getting a working training. For this purpose assistance of the local trade bodies can be obtained by the concerned agencies, they added.
