September 05, 2007	Wednesday	Sha'aban 22, 1428

ISLAMABAD, Sept 4: The National Assembly standing committee on textile on Tuesday recommended to the government to allow import of manmade fibre at zero duty to help out the textile manufactures.

The committee headed by MNA Ch. Nasir Ahmad Jatt also recommended that the import of medium staple fibre be allowed from India through land route. The meeting was attended among others by Textile Minister Mushtaq Ali Cheema.

It was also proposed that the subsidy on gas be extended to the textile industry in view of the massive demand from the textile manufactures and the textile ministry.

The meeting was convened to review the new trade policy and status of the committee’s recommendations made for the improvement in the textile industry.

Earlier, Secretary Textile Zafar Mahmood briefed the committee in details about the new trade policy. He said that there was a great need for the development of human resource and infrastructure regarding the textile industry.He informed the meeting that the government had decided to hire a foreign consultant to benchmark the firm characteristics, including production technology, skills, accounting procedures, marketing and international business practices.

The secretary further said that the prime minister had in principal approved the draft of the textile policy and directed the textile ministry to discuss it with finance division and the Federal Board of Revenue before sending it to the cabinet.