The Carpet industry business, worth US $150 million, takes place annually in the NWFP, in which 70 percent products are produced locally and the rest come from neighbouring Afghanistan. This was stated by the members of a delegation of the Pakistan Hand Knitted Woolen Carpet Exporters, which called on the NWFP Governor Owais Ahmad Ghani here at Governor's House on Thursday.
Mazhar-ul-Haq, a leading carpet exporter, who led the delegation, highlighted the importance of the Carpet Nagar Project, initiated by the Governor NWFP and the difficulties being faced by carpet weavers and exporters of the industry in the prevailing circumstances.
Mazaharul Haq particularly referred to the proposed project of establishing a carpet industry in the name of "Carpet Nagar" and requested the Governor to help in the early materialisation of the project. Besides the Provincial Secretary for Planning and Development, Muhammad Ikram, Secretary to the Governor, Arbab Muhammad Arif and the Managing Director of Small Industries Development Board of the Provincial government, Hassan Mehmood Yousafzai, the Regional Chief of the UNHCR, was also present on this occasion.
Talking on this occasion, the Governor stressed the need for taking appropriate actions to ensure the early implementation of the project which, he remarked, was lingering on for the last almost nine years. Welcoming the offer of the UNHCR to significantly contribute to the promotion of the carpet weaving industry, through the proposed project, he added, since it was an Afghan refugees-friendly project, therefore, we would welcome the role and contribution of this organisation as well.