ISLAMABAD: The country’s textile and apparel enterprises will receive increased support from the International Labour Organisation (ILO) to enhance labour standards, improve workplace practices, and remain competitive within global supply chains.

ILO, in collaboration with the Employers’ Federation of Pakistan (EFP), has signed memorandums of understanding with the Towel Manufacturers Association (TMA) and the Pakistan Readymade Garments Manufacturers and Exporters Association (PRGMEA) to support sustainable growth across Pakistan’s textile and apparel sector.

Through its engagement in Pakistan’s textile supply chains, the ILO is supporting an expanded compliance base among producers and manufacturers, generating knowledge resources and compliance data to inform policy and workplace practices, and providing advisory services and training to enterprises and workers.

These efforts aim to improve the quality of employment and promote decent work frameworks, with a strong focus on gender equality, access to opportunities, and strengthened social dialogue, the ILO said in a press release in Islamabad on Wednesday.

The collaboration is supported through the ‘ILO Better Work Programme’ and the ‘Small and Medium Enterprise (SME) Formalisation and Just Transition’ projects, which aim to promote responsible business practices and sustainable growth across Pakistan’s export-oriented textile supply chains.

Published in Dawn, April 9th, 2026