APTMA Elections 2026–28: Gohar Ejaz Group Secures 17th Consecutive Victory
The Dr. Gohar Ejaz Group has secured a 17th consecutive victory in the All Pakistan Textile Mills Association (APTMA) Annual Elections for 2026–28, with its candidates elected unopposed at the Central and Zonal levels. The result reinforces the group’s longstanding leadership within one of Pakistan’s largest and most strategically important trade associations.
APTMA, established in 1957, represents Pakistan’s textile manufacturing sector and currently encompasses more than 223 textile companies. The latest election saw representatives from both the Northern and Southern Zones elected to the Central Executive Committee without opposition, reflecting the group’s continued organizational dominance.
New Leadership for 2026–28
Among the newly elected leadership, Asad Shafi has been designated as the incoming Central Chairman, succeeding Kamran Arshad, who completed his tenure as chairman for 2024–26. Siddique Javed Bhatti has been elected Chairman of APTMA’s Northern Zone, while Habib Anwar will serve as Senior Vice Chairman, Muhammad Ali as Vice Chairman and Danish Aslam as Treasurer.
The Central Executive Committee includes 24 elected members, comprising 14 representatives from the Northern Zone and 10 from the Southern Zone, according to the official election announcement and subsequent APTMA communication.
The election marks another chapter in the Gohar Ejaz Group’s 17-year run and comes at a critical point for Pakistan’s export-oriented textile industry.
Focus on Export Competitiveness
Speaking at a press conference at APTMA House in Lahore, APTMA Patron-in-Chief Dr. Gohar Ejaz congratulated the newly elected leadership and highlighted the need for policies that can restore and strengthen Pakistan’s international competitiveness.
Among the key priorities identified were competitive and sustainable energy tariffs, a business-friendly regulatory environment, lower taxation and reduced business costs. Dr. Gohar emphasized that the textile sector has significant untapped potential to increase exports and employment if provided with a conducive policy environment.
The emphasis on competitiveness comes as Pakistan’s textile exports have struggled to maintain strong growth. According to Pakistan Bureau of Statistics data reported by the Associated Press of Pakistan, textile exports reached approximately $17.93 billion in FY2025–26, up only 0.26% from $17.89 billion in FY2024–25.
The Pakistan Economic Survey 2025–26 similarly reported that textile and apparel exports declined marginally by 0.5% to $13.58 billion during July–March FY2025–26, although the sector still represented 59.7% of Pakistan’s total exports during the period.
These figures underline the scale of the challenge facing the new APTMA leadership: protecting Pakistan’s existing export base while moving toward higher-value products, greater productivity and stronger international market positioning.
From Textile Manufacturing to Value-Added Exports
A major theme emerging from the election is the need to accelerate Pakistan’s transition toward value-added textile exports.
Dr. Gohar Ejaz pointed to the importance of expanding the country’s export potential beyond traditional textile products. The incoming leadership is expected to place greater emphasis on increasing value addition, strengthening the complete textile value chain and creating an environment in which manufacturers can compete effectively with regional producers.
The appointment of Asad Shafi is also significant in this context. APTMA has highlighted the incoming chairman’s experience across the textile value chain, while the new Northern Zone leadership brings strong representation from the value-added and garment segments.
For Pakistan, expanding value-added exports is particularly important because the sector’s competitiveness is increasingly determined not simply by production capacity, but by energy costs, technology, productivity, skilled labour, supply-chain efficiency and the ability to manufacture higher-value products.
Energy and Taxation Remain Central Concerns
Energy affordability continues to be one of the most significant challenges confronting Pakistan’s export-oriented manufacturing industries.
APTMA has repeatedly argued that high electricity and gas costs have weakened the competitiveness of domestic manufacturers compared with regional competitors. The association has also raised concerns over taxation, changes in export-related incentives and the withdrawal of zero-rating arrangements for certain local supplies to export-oriented units.
The association has previously highlighted that industrial electricity tariffs have risen substantially, while policy changes have increased the cost of locally sourced intermediate inputs. APTMA argues that such pressures can encourage manufacturers to rely increasingly on imported inputs rather than strengthening domestic value chains.
For the incoming leadership, creating a predictable and competitive cost structure will therefore be essential to achieving sustained export growth.
Education and Technical Skills Take Centre Stage
The election announcement also introduced an important new dimension to APTMA’s future agenda: human capital development.
Dr. Gohar Ejaz announced the establishment of the APTMA Education Foundation and the APTMA Technical Foundation, both of which will be led by outgoing Chairman Kamran Arshad. The initiatives are intended to support education and technical skills development, strengthening the workforce required by Pakistan’s industrial economy.
The move recognizes that the future competitiveness of Pakistan’s manufacturing sector will depend not only on investment in machinery and infrastructure, but also on the availability of technically trained workers, engineers, managers and specialized professionals.
For an industry undergoing technological transformation, skills development can play a critical role in improving productivity, introducing modern manufacturing practices and moving toward more sophisticated and higher-value products.
What the 17th Victory Means for Pakistan’s Industrial Sector
The significance of the APTMA election extends beyond the association itself.
Textiles remain a cornerstone of Pakistan’s export economy, accounting for nearly 60% of total exports during the first nine months of FY2025–26, according to the Pakistan Economic Survey.
At the same time, the sector is facing rising production costs, global competition, changing trade dynamics and pressure to move higher up the value chain. Textile exports have remained broadly stagnant despite their dominant share of national exports.
The new APTMA leadership therefore takes charge at a pivotal moment. Its agenda of competitive energy, reduced taxation, improved business conditions, value addition, education and technical training reflects some of the wider challenges confronting Pakistan’s export-oriented manufacturing base.
The 2026–28 APTMA leadership has an opportunity to build on the association’s long-standing policy advocacy while responding to a rapidly changing global textile landscape.
The immediate challenge will be to restore export momentum. The longer-term objective will be to strengthen Pakistan’s entire textile ecosystem, from raw materials and spinning to processing, garments, technical textiles and international brands.
The 17th consecutive victory of the Gohar Ejaz Group provides continuity in APTMA’s leadership. The real measure of this new term, however, will be its ability to translate that continuity into higher exports, stronger industrial competitiveness, greater value addition, skilled employment and a more sustainable manufacturing ecosystem for Pakistan.
For Pakistan’s export economy, the message from the new APTMA leadership is clear: competitiveness, value addition and policy stability will be central to the next phase of industrial growth.
Source: https://aptma.org.pk/aptma-elections-2026-28-17th-consecutive-victory/
