ISLAMABAD, June 4: Federal Minister for Textile Industry Mushtaq Ali Cheema has said the proposed National Textile Policy (NTP) will be announced in the last week of this month.

He was speaking at a seminar on the formulation of the first textile policy held here on Monday. Federal Secretary Textile Zafar Mehmud and representatives of all concerned ministries and textile associations also attended the seminar.

The minister said the policy had been prepared with the consultation of all textile stakeholders and textile associations and foreign experts and was awaiting approval from the prime minister.

Mr Cheema said the policy would be project-oriented and would encourage setting up of new ventures in all segments of textile industry particularly in weaving sector which was very weak and not able to fulfil demands of value-added sector.

He said the textile ministry was trying to maintain a balance among the all sectors. “Links and balance in full chain of textile sector from ginning to garments is essential for the development of this industry,” he added.

The textile sector has been confronting problems after the WTO regime gets effective, but with establishment of textile cities, garment cities in Karachi, Lahore and Faisalabad the sector will come out from crises and flourish rapidly, he hoped.