It is heartening to note that the ground-breaking ceremony of Pakistan Textile City Project is taking place today. It is also very satisfying to learn that the city which will be the first of its kind in the country is being set up through private-public sector participation and will be a state-of-the-art infrastructure for facilitating textile production and export.
Pakistan with a very strong cotton base is the fourth largest producer in the world and is therefore naturally endowed with the essential raw material for our value added textiles. The textile industry includes the most value added sectors like garments & home textiles that fetch substantial foreign exchange, is also a major employment generator. The textile city on completion is expected to generate an estimated 80,000 jobs, which will be a major contribution towards poverty alleviation.
I wish all success to Ministry of Textile Industry & the Pakistan Textile City Ltd for launching this project and I expect that they will endeavour to complete it on time.