March 16, 2003	Sunday	Muharram 12, 1424

KARACHI, March 15: Pakistan’s industry is reluctantly taking steps to comply with the international health, environmental, labour and social standards in their factories and offices to meet the 2005 deadline stipulated by the World Trade Organisation (WTO).

Groaning under a crippling taxation structure, an unbearable utility tariff levy and a high financial cost, the industrialists found a cut in facilities for their employees in the factories and offices the most convenient saving avenue. Employees remain under paid, are given insecure job conditions, deny weekly and annual holidays, refused medical facilities and are forced to work in unhygienic environments in most of the factories and offices in Pakistan.

A stock taking meeting of the eight textile manufacturers was held on Saturday at the Textile Commissioner’s office to review 36 industry related laws and also working conditions.

“We intend to update and consolidate 36 industry related laws into six pieces of legislation only,” Mohammad Idrees, Textile Commissioner told Dawn on Saturday.

He said that all factories and offices world over would be expected to comply with international social, environmental, health and labour standards by the year 2005. “Pakistan will not be an exception,” he said and he disclosed that quite a good number of foreign buyers have already started taking notice of working conditions in their business partners’ premises in Pakistan.

Quite a good number of Pakistani exporters complain that they are now under pressure from their foreign buyers to take necessary steps to conform to international social standards.

Foreign buyers of Pakistani goods—in Europe and the US— now want their business partners to attend to the needs of their employees. “They want the factories and offices to be equipped with modern fire fighting equipment, cross ventilation, air conditioning and all modern tools for the workers,” a well known textile exporter said.

Obviously, the facilities for employees and compliance with all social conditions would entail substantial investment for the industrialists who fear closure of quite a number of factories in the coming years. “More unemployment and social upheaval,” is the prediction of one such frightened investor who feels shy of offering any on the record comment.

With globalization moving on a fast track, both the government and the Pakistani industrialist have apparently been left behind as far as the comprehension of new laws and their compliance are concerned.

Dumping is one such issue. For last more than three years Pakistani markets are flooded with Chinese, Korean and Thai garments, footwear, detergent soaps and a variety of consumer items. The ex-commerce minister Razzak Dawood in one of the briefings in Karachi had conceded of dumping of Chinese and Korean footwear but failed to take any appropriate step to prevent injury to local industry.

The National Tariff Commission has recently taken up the case of dumping of sorbitol a sweetener coming from France and Indonesia. This is being done on complaint of a local manufacturer with no indication of how much investment is at stake. What is the total consumption of this virtually little known sweetener in Pakistan and how much is the capacity of local production.

What is at stake is Pakistan’s business relationship with France and the entire European Union where more than a billion dollar worth of goods are marketed.

By placing orders for purchase of Boeing aircraft import with the US against two billion dollars supply credit line Pakistan had already annoyed EU by ignoring Airbus purchase. “Anti dumping initiatives against France will create more problems for us,” Mohammad Shabbir said.

“It is a juvenile counter move against EU’s dumping measures against Pakistan’s bedlinen,” he said. The commerce ministry has convened a meeting of the exporters on Tuesday in Islamabad to consider implication’s of EU dumping initiatives against Pakistan.

Exporters say that government constantly gives them advice to explore market and seek market access. But by taking anti dumping measures against a European country on an issue which is very insignificant, Pakistan’s business interest are bound to be hurt.