Speakers at a workshop on Saturday said that Pakistan is facing shortage of qualified experts in textile industry and there is hardly any qualified textile chemist available in the country.
Speaking at the inaugural ceremony of 10-day workshop on "Industrial Training in Textile Chemical Technology", organised by the Department of Applied Chemistry in collaboration with Higher Education Commission (HEC) at Karachi University, they said that both government and industrialists had failed to play their role in promoting the textile industry in Pakistan, adding students too were not interested to join this sector.
Pro-Vice Chancellor University of Karachi Professor Dr Akhlaque Ahmed said the textile industry was a major source of Pakistani economy. The Higher Education Commission (HEC) had sent some 675 candidates abroad for PhD, and in spite of bearing all expenses by HEC only three candidates agreed to do PhD in subjects related to textile industry, he regretted.
He said due to the implementation of the World Trade Organisation (WTO), Pakistan textile industry was facing various dangers. He said that countries like Bangladesh and China had already dominated international market, while Pakistani textile exports were continuously dwindling.
Dr Akhlaque Ahmed said that only experts, textile chemists and scientists could only solve this crisis adding industry and academicians should jointly prepare the strategy to revitalise textile industry in Pakistan.
Javed Iqbal Choudhary said biological sciences, chemistry and local textile/food industry should work jointly for this cause. The target of getting proper share in international market could not be achieved without science and technology, he added. Dr Niaz, Dr Khalid and others also spoke on the occasion.