ISLAMABAD: An 11- member delegation headed by the Chief Executive Officer (CEO), of the National Productivity organization ( NPO ), an attached department of the ministry of industries and production, Muhammad Alamgir Chaudhry has left for Indonesia here on Sunday for exploring business opportunities for the Pakistani leather sector.
The delegation is comprising of leather manufacturers (tanners), representatives of leather garments and footwear, industrial trade bodies and training institutes, said a press release issued here.
The delegation is arranged by the NPO. The visit is fully sponsored by APO Japan along with partial funding from WWF Pakistan.
The representatives of trade associations (STGAL, PLGMEA, PGMEA) comprising the delegation will be able to develop better linkage and communication in Indonesia and exchange information on new techniques and technologies in leather tanning.
Pakistan needs to learn from the Indonesian leather model and benchmarks to promote the leather product exports of Pakistan.
The knowledge and information gained from Indonesia will help Pakistani leather manufacturers (tanners) about benchmark models of productivity and resource management in the domain of input raw material, energy, water, and waste and transforming layouts of local tanneries to international standards.
The NPO said overall Pakistan leather sector exports are stagnant as the leather tanneries mostly rely on conventional processes and technologies leading to lower productivity, mediocre product quality and a significant impact on the ecosystem.
After a comprehensive need analysis, the revival of this sector was targeted through the implementation of best practices learnt from the leaders in the leather sector.
The leather industry in Indonesia is one of the biggest sectors which contributes well to the Indonesian economy. It has recently been ranked in the sixth position in the world as an exporter of leather products by following European standards.
The NPO, Pakistan is working under the umbrella of the Ministry of industries and production, the Government of Pakistan and the liaison Office of the Asian Productivity Organization(APO), Japan.
