January 23, 2002	Wednesday	Ziqa'ad 8, 1422

LAHORE, Jan 22: France will provide technical assistance to Pakistan for improving the ginning sector to the international standards.

A French expert, Yannick Davenel, who is in Pakistan these days for talks with local officials on the subject held a detailed meeting with Commerce Minister Abdul Razak Dawood at the Smeda office here on Tuesday.

There are about 1,221 ginning mills in Pakistan which require heavy investment for modernizing their technology to achieve the international ginning standards.

Under the modernization programme, two mills in Multan and Bahawalpur are being upgraded with the assistance of a French firm. The minister asked Smeda to upgrade technology of at least one more mill in Rahim Yar Khan.