* Government would take all possible steps required to help the industry to boost its global trade
* Proposed textile policy would be a milestone to achieve even higher objectives
By Sajid Chaudhry
ISLAMABAD: Textile Policy 2007 would ensure access to various categories of financing facilities to textile sector like external commercial borrowings and local long term financing for purchase of plants and machinery.
Proposed policy would cater for short, medium and long term to increase the production of cotton, improve value added products, productivity and competitiveness of the textile sector. A high level meeting chaired by Prime Minister Shaukat Aziz on Monday approved in principle the draft textile policy here at the Prime Minister House. The PM said during the meeting that the proposed textile policy would help increase export of textile products, improve competitiveness and generate employment in the industry.
He said textile was the backbone of our industrial sector and the government would continue to support the private sector in its efforts to modernise itself, increase the productivity and competitiveness of textile products. We need to produce value added products, particularly garments so as to create jobs and higher exports, he added.
Mr Aziz said the proposed policy envisages to build a new culture, which would expedite the process of improvement in all the segments of the textile sector. He however, emphasised that the skills gap in all the entities of the textile sector as well as the concerned government organisations have to be filled by professionals to cope with the challenges and the changing environments of international marketing.
He said textile is contributing 66 percent to the country’s export, 40 percent to employment and 8.5 percent of GDP and in this regard the government would take all possible steps required to help the industry to boost its global trade and the proposed textile policy would be a milestone to achieve even higher objectives.
Earlier the secretary textile industry made a detailed presentation outlining the main features of the proposed textile policy. He said the proposed textile policy targets 40 percent increase in the export of textile products and generate employment of over 3.5 million persons.
He further mentioned that in the new textile policy there was a detailed plan which would help create five model garment factories, introduction of new scheme whereby a textile park would be declared special economic zone, setting of weaving city, formation of Pakistan textile research and compliance organisation, audit of processing industry for efficient and economic use of precious chemicals, setting up of state of the art textile laboratory at NTU Faisalabad, horizontal and vertical integration to balance textile value chain, specialised garment training institute for females, one window facility for provision of required infrastructure and standardisation of machinery and equipment.
Later the Governor State Bank of Pakistan Dr Shamshad Akhtar briefed the meeting on various categories of financing facilities to promote industrial development in the country including external commercial borrowings and local long term financing for plants and machinery.
