Prime Minister Shaukat Aziz chaired a meeting here on Thursday to review the textile sector. He said: "Textile is the backbone of our industrial sector and the government will continue to support the private sector in its efforts to modernise itself to increase the productivity and competitiveness of our products."
He said Pakistan has a competitive edge in the textile sector due to the production of high quality cotton in abundant quantity and the country needs to build on this advantage.
Shaukat Aziz said the textile sector has shown development during the last few years as a result of the several initiatives, including tariff rationalisation, conducive trade, finance and fiscal policies, removal of sales tax on textile value chain, reduction in import duty on polyester chain, availability of development finance and export refinance at low mark-up rate and a hassle-free environment provided by the government
He emphasised that the industry needs to go into the production of high value-added goods, technology up-gradation and more focus on research to manufacture in line with the changing global trends.
The prime minister said there is a lot of rooms for textile industry to grow, Pakistan's position in textiles at the global level is not satisfactory and more investment is required in the textile industry to improve exports.
He said there is a need to build scale, bring innovation and improve the productivity and competitiveness of the textile sector. The government will encourage mergers and consolidations in the industry as it will help build the scale and improve productivity, he added. Shaukat Aziz emphasised the need for improving labour productivity, saying the government is making concerted efforts to impart skills to the labourers.
The government has also taken steps to improve production, management and marketing skills in the country to help the industry move up the productivity chain, he added. Textile Industry Secretary Zafar Mahmood presented an overview of the textile sector. He said during the first three quarters of the current financial year the overall textile exports increased by 6.5 percent.
He said the knitwear sector is performing better than other sub-sectors. The textile ministry will interact with the industry associations to discuss incentives needed in the next budget so as to improve overall export performance.
Among others, Commerce Minister Humayun Akhtar Khan, Industries and Production Minister Jahangir Khan Tareen, Textile Industry Minister Mushtaq Ali Cheema; Food, Agriculture, and Livestock Minister Sikandar Hayat Boson, PM's Adviser on finance Dr Salman Shah, Planning Commission Deputy Chairman Dr M. Akram Sheikh, State Bank of Pakistan (SBP) Governor Dr Shamshad Akhtar, the TDAP chief executive officer attended the meeting.
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