Textile is the largest foreign exchange earner as well as the largest employment providing industry of Pakistan and government should develop a comprehensive framework for the proper development of textile sector.

This was said by Zahid Maqbool, President, Islamabad Chamber of Commerce & Industry (ICCI) in a statement. He said that textile was the most important sector of country’s economy, but was facing multiple problems.

He said due to power shortages, textiles exports have declined from   $10.6 billion of 2007-08 to $9.6 billion in 2008-09 while these were around $11 billion in 2006-07. How the government could achieve the textile exports target of $ 25 billion in the next five years when there will be no consistent availability of gas and power for this industry, he asked.

He stressed the need for encouraging private sector in textile industry, saying that there was need to find out ways and means to overcome problems. It will also encourage better investment in this sector, he added.

He said government should strive for getting easy access to more international markets for export of textile products. Moreover, government should establish more textile cities in the country in line with Karachi Textile city for giving boost to this sector and for generating better economic activities.

Zahid Maqbool said a committee should be constituted to monitor the textile sector performance and give suggestions for resolving its problems. He said government should provide more funds for human resource development and capacity building in textile industry.

He stressed for focusing more on research, development and training in textile sector that will result in enhanced exports and fetch billions of dollars of foreign exchange.

He said government in its textile policy 2009-14 had promised to exempt textile industry from load-shedding, which needed to be fulfilled in letter and spirit by providing uninterrupted power supply to this industry, otherwise, it would not be able to meet the set exports targets.

He said that government had also announced effective measures in that policy which should be implemented without wasting further time to achieve desired results. Particularly, government should ensure to provide consistent power and gas supply to textile sector, which will enable it to easily achieve the export target, he maintained.