Megatech Pakistan 2010: Networking opportunities and discussions

Inaugural Ceremony

The exhibition was inaugurated by Mr. Abdul Rauf Siddiqui; Minister of Industries & Commerce, Government of Sindh. The ceremony was also attended by Abdul Majid Haji Muhammad; President, Karachi Chamber of Commerce and Industry, M. Idrees Ahmed; Textile Commissioner, Textile Commissioner’s Organization,  Abbas Mooraj; President Textile Machinery Manufacturers and Suppliers Association of Pakistan, Dr. Shahzad Arshad; Chairman, Pakistan Cotton Fashion Apparel Manufacturers & Exporters Association, Anees Motiwala; Chairman, Sindh Balochistan Zone, All Pakistan Textile Processing Mills Association and Farid Ahmed Vawda; Pakistan Chemicals & Dyes Merchants Association.

Show Highlights

Participation of 312 local and international companies from the textile and garment machinery manufacturing industry. Representation of 29 countries including Austria, Australia, Bangladesh, Belgium, Canada, China, Czech Republic, France, Germany, India, Indonesia, Italy, Japan , Malaysia, North Korea, Pakistan, Singapore, Slovakia, South Korea, Spain, Sri Lanka, Sweden, Switzerland, Thailand, Turkey, U.A.E., U.K. and U.S.A.

Nazer and Company organized four training sessions during the exhibition, which made it very interesting, one was on "Proper Maintenance and Repairing of Printing Blankets" by Ejaz Husain. Rauf gave a seminar on “Spindle Tapes, Transmission Belts and Conveyors.”

Arshad held an interesting talk on “Timing and V Belts” and last but not the least Manfred Schulte Austum on “Brueckner Heat Recovery Systems.” These seminars were attended by qualified customers.

Technical Textiles Conference

In concurrence with the show, a two days conference under the theme of “Technical Textiles: Global Trends & Prospects in Pakistan” was organized to highlight the significance and potential of Medical Textiles and Geotextiles in this sector.

Conference highlights

Zafar Mahmood, Secretary Commerce from Ministry of Commerce inaugurated the first day of the conference and Mr. Waqar Masood Khan, Federal Secretary, Ministry of Textile Industry was the chief guest of the second day. Secretary Commerce, Zafar Mahmood speaking at the conference, said that the country would need to graduate from cotton economy to value-added economy. He appreciated the organizers for holding a technical conference to create awareness about the new technologies and trends in textile industry. Speakers at the conference suggested value-added sector to go for technical textile which is rising very fast in the world compared to conventional textiles.

They included senior fellow from the largest British textile technology institute, University of Bolton, UK. Dr. Tahir Shah, Muhammad Kamran Iqbal, Dr. Zubair Bandukda and Rector NTU, Dr. Niaz Ahmed Akhtar and member board TIP Abdul Majeed were among the speakers. The managing director of Pegasus Consultancy Mr. Aasim Siddiqui also spoke on the occasion.

• Prof. Dr. Niaz Ahmed Akhtar, Rector, National Textile University was the chairperson of the first session whereas Arif Hasan, Chancellor Textile Institute of Pakistan chaired the second session of the conference.
• The conference was held in partnership with Textile Institute of Pakistan (TIP), which is a leading textile education institute of the country.
• Speakers from University of Bolton, University of Leeds, U.K., NED University, National Textile University and Textile Institute of Pakistan shared their expertise and valuable knowledge with the audience.
• More than 300 attendees including CEOs, Directors, Managers, Engineers from Production, Warping & Sizing, R&D and Quality Assurance participated in the conference.
• Students along with the faculty members from the leading Textiles Universities also attended the conference.
• The conference was sponsored by Tata Industries, Premium Textile Mills Ltd., Sapphire Textile Mills Ltd., Dossa Cotton and General Trading (Pvt.) Ltd., Indus Dyeing, Lucky Tex (Pvt.) Ltd and Associated Textile Consultants.

Polar Bear Pakistan are the manufacturers of optical brightening agent with Chinese joint-venture.

Syntech Fibers Pvt. Ltd. presented Duralene brand of polypropylene fibres and yarns.

Speeches: Inaugural Ceremony

The ceremony was also attended and addressed by President Karachi Chamber of Commerce and Industry, Abdul Majeed Haji Mohammad; President Textile Machinery Manufacturers and Suppliers Association of Pakistan (TEXMAP) Abbas Mooraj; Chairman Pakistan Cotton Fashion Apparel Manufacturers and Exporters Association (PCFAMEA) Dr. Shahzad Arshad; Senior Member Pakistan Chemicals and Dyes Merchants Association (PCDMA), Khalil Ahmed Vohra; Chairman All Pakistan Textile Processing Mills Association, Anees Motiwalla.

Idrees Ahmed said, induction of modern machinery and technology is essential for Pakistani manufacturers to maintain a competitive edge in the current economic situations. He stressed that large investment is required in this sector and the government should seriously consider controlling the constant rise in yarn prices.

Abdul Majid Haji Muhammad, President Karachi Chamber of Commerce and Industry emphasized on various initiatives take by KCCI to accelerate textile and garment manufacturing activities in the country.

Sindh Industries Minister Abdul Rauf Siddiqui urged the people in textile business to set up their spinning and weaving units in cotton growing areas to save transportation and other costs. The cotton factories are set up in cotton growing areas all over the world, he noted. 

Sindh Industries Minister, Rauf Siddiqui speaking at 8th International Machinery Exhibition of Garments and Textile Technology Pakistan pointed out that he had requested the President and the Prime Minister to allow a tax holiday of 10 years on setting up of agro based industries in smaller towns of the province, including Larkana.

The minister said that he had also suggested to the federal government to allow setting up of 200 megawatt power plants on built, operate and transfer (BOT) basis in industrial estates instead of 50 MW power units which are not feasible. He elaborated that if allowed, this decision alone can solve power shortage problem.

To a question, he said his department had cancelled at least 10 industrial plots where owners did not start any work.

Knowledge village

The pavilion successfully created synergy between textile industry and research centers of local textile university/institutes to explore new avenues of business in the textile industry. The leading textile universities and institutes including Textile Institute of Pakistan, NED University, Karachi University, National Textile University and Synthetic Fibre Development & Application Centre participated at the Knowledge Village where the final year students displayed their research posters.

The 9^th Edition of MEGATECH Pakistan 2011 is scheduled from 3^rd to 5th March 2011.