ISLAMABAD, May 31: Minister for Textile Industry Mushtaq Ali Cheema said on Thursday the government was considering exempting from customs duty import of textile machinery and components for up-gradation of the value added textile sector.

"The government will either exempt the textile related machinery and components from custom duty or will have to provide an equal amount of rebate in the upcoming budget," the minister said while responding to a question.

Talking to Dawn after the meeting held to review up gradation programme of textile sector, the minister said that the duty ranges from 5 per cent to 25 per cent on some products, which, he said, needed revising. The government has already reduced customs duty to five per cent on all machinery, which are not locally manufactured.

He said that a broader policy for increasing export of textile products was being drafted, which will be finalised in the month of June in consultation with all stakeholders. He said the proposed policy would clearly mention the targets to be achieved as a result of supportive measures.

An official announcement said the ratio of value-added textile products was very little in textile exports and it should be enhanced by up- grading the textile sector for which the textile ministry has proposed various incentives for consideration in the upcoming budget.

Mr Cheema said the ministry intended to adopt project-oriented approach on the basis of studies undertaken on textiles in the past. The reports and recommendations of two consultants M/s Gherzi, M/s Werner and National Textile Strategy Committee were thoroughly discussed in the meeting.

All the reports revealed that Pakistan needed to concentrate on quality of the cotton, human resource development, production process, supply chain to improve the value of the textile products, he said.

It was observed that coherent efforts to boost complete value chain will increase average unit price and the export volume.The minister disclosed that the ministry of textile will soon initiate an outreach programme to seek views of the textile entrepreneurs, experts and other stakeholders. In this regard the representatives of the ministry would visit Karachi, Lahore and Faisalabad to gather feed back of the industry.

A seminar will also be held in Islamabad for debate on the development of textile sector, he said and added that prominent textile industrialists, trade leaders, presidents of all chambers of commerce and industry and other stakeholders would attend the seminar.