Pakistani Delegation in Indonesia to Explore Opportunities in Leather Sector

A Pakistan delegation on Sunday left for Indonesia for exploring business opportunities for the Pakistani leather sector. The eleven-member delegation is headed by National Productivity organization (NPO) CEO Muhammad Alamgir Chaudhry and comprises leather manufacturers, representatives of leather garments and footwear, industrial trade bodies, and training institutes. The representatives of trade associations 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 leather product exports of Pakistan. The knowledge and information gained from Indonesia will help Pakistani leather manufacturers (tanners) with benchmark models of productivity and resource management in the domain of input raw material, energy, water, and waste and transform layouts of local tanneries to international standards. The overall Pakistan leather sector’s 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 learned 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 sixth in the world as an exporter of leather products by following European standards. The NPO is working under the umbrella of the Ministry of Industries and Production. The visit is fully sponsored by Asian Productivity Organization (APO) Japan along with partial funding from WWF Pakistan.