FAISALABAD: Turkish Cooperation and Coordination Agency (TIKA) will help Pakistan upgrade textile curricula and provide experts and master trainers to improve the overall skill and expertise of workforce.

This was decided at a meeting between a delegation of TIKA led by its country coordinator, Mustfa Giray Tezel, and Faisalabad Chamber of Commerce and Industry (FCCI) members on Tuesday.

The TIKA head said the agency had been cooperating in humanitarian and skill development sectors to improve overall efficiency of different countries. He said a visit to Faisalabad would help agency members understand grey areas where the textile industry needed necessary skills and expertise.

He said the agency would arrange Turkish experts to impart training to Pakistani workforce to fulfill requirement of units engaged in export of textile items to European countries.

He said a proposal was under consideration to set up a modern textile institute in Faisalabad or Lahore.

“The agency has planned two schools in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa followed by four school buildings in Balochistan and Sindh where the land will be provided by the provincial governments,” he said.

Earlier, FCCI President Suhail Bin Rashid said recently a Chinese company had entered into an agreement with a local textile entrepreneur to establish modern textile units at M-3 Industrial Estate coupled with a 300MW coal-fired power plant.

He hoped that Turkey being an advanced country would not only increase its trade with Pakistan “but also help us by transfer of technology and technical know-how”.

Published in Dawn, May 28th, 2014