The announcement by the government to create 'textile ministries' - both at the central and provincial levels - is a positive step. In fact it should have been taken much earlier.

It is rather painful to recall that in the past there never has been a sustained, scientific, information-based textile policy coordinating efforts of different stakeholders.

The successive governments have been coming up with populist policies, like the yellow-cab scheme, the green tractor scheme, the motorway, the power policy with the independent power producers (IPP), etc etc.

None of these or such other schemes answered the real questions. In which sector does Pakistan's greatest comparative advantage lie? Which sector is the potential leader and for which reason it must be given top priority in allocation of material and institutional framework? The obvious answer to these questions is: the textiles.

Unfortunately this has not been been the case. Pakistan has been blessed with the terrain and climate most suited for growing cotton. It is the fifth largest cotton-growing country in the world.

Textiles earns 60 per cent (about $6.5 billion) of our total exports. It is estimated that if right conditions are created this sector has a potential to export $30 billion.

It employs a large part of the country's labour force and it is the only industry in Pakistan, which during last three years has invested more than $3 billion for its modernization.

There are about 1200 ginning factories in Pakistan and Mr. Razzaq Dawood,- although at the end of his tenure as commerce minister- began overhauling and modernizing them. He invited German experts and sought their advice to make these factories more modern and more competitive in today's world.

These all-important issues are no longer discussed even in the media, let alone in the Assembly after the departure of that minister. One should however expect that the proposed 'textile ministries' will take off from where the minister left them.

Ideally, liaison should be established with the existing research facilities in Sahiwal, Multan and Faisalabad regarding the control of cotton pest disease. In this regard help should be sought from India, whose climatic conditions are identical to ours.

A survey of the country needs to be conducted to identify which areas are best suited for growing cotton. Facilitation of import of latest textile machinery should be undertaken, so as to optimize and accelerate the modernization process. The issue of the closed textile units should be addressed immediately.

Modern textile is increasingly a blend of cotton and polyester. Entire need of polyester is not met through the local production of the PTA unit of ICI etc. Pricing of polyester is also a very important issue.

Facilitation of import of polyester and other inputs especially when these are cheap in international market will help boost the industry. Textile units should be encouraged to obtain ISO certification.

Officials should be appointed in our embassies to especially work on textile. The government should help find new markets for textile products. Seeking help from friendly countries like China etc to update information and technology on all the aspects of textile industry.

It is generally believed that the WTO has overturned the trading system of the world to the disadvantage of the less developed countries. Most valuable time has been lost during the last four years, in adapting to the new system. While the WTO regime was knocking at our doors our economic managers did not make preparations and get ready for competition.

It may be mentioned that Pakistan needs to concentrate on anti-dumping duties and the dispute settlement system. The current EU anti-dumping duty crisis on bed linen shows the ruthless misuse of the system by the developed counties.

Today the business world is very competitive and knowledge and information are necessities for survival. The Textile Ministry must pay immediate attention to the collection and collation of the information about markets. It must disseminate the necessary information to the textile industrialists and also make practical use of it.

The textile industry has spent about $3 billion on BMR (balancing, modernization and Replacement). This only highlights the scale of the machinery now in existence in Pakistan.

It highlights the urgent need to set up industry for spare parts to cater to the needs of textile machinery. We already have a vibrant automobile spare parts industry which is now even exporting to European countries.

In fact, large-scale industry for manufacture of textile machinery should be set up. Lessons should be learnt from our neighbouring country India which has successfully set up the industry in similar economic condition.

If we can manufacture cement plants we can also acquire expertise to manufacture textile machinery. We should also set up a textile university to turn out engineers in all spheres of textile industry.

It is said that a stock exchange is a barometer of a nation's economy. If you go through the data of the Karachi Stock Exchange (KSE) you will find that except for Dewan Salman Fibre Ltd., Nishat Mills and to a much lesser extent, Kohinoor Textiles, there is hardly any textile mill whose shares are traded and reach a figure of rupees one lakh.

This shows that textile sector is certainly not the driver of the KSE. At present it is the companies owned by the government whose shares are blue-chips e.g. the PSO, the PTCL, the OGDC.

Working in close partnership with the private sector the textile ministry should prepare a textile vision for the next twenty years. It should not be a flowery and flamboyant document, but a focussed and practical report on what can be done to optimize the textile potential of the country.