ISLAMABAD, Dec 27: President General Pervez Musharraf has said the government will encourage higher industrial growth which lies at the core of realizing the twin goals of sustained economic development and poverty reduction.

"Our rise will be through industrial growth, and I have no doubt that we will sustain higher economic growth and with good intentions be able to reduce poverty," he said.

Addressing the first national convention of the Workers Employers Bilateral Council of Pakistan (Web cop) on Monday, the president enumerated many initiatives for all-round development based on a strong agricultural output and a robust industrial sector.

He also announced a raise in the minimum pension for workers under the Employees Old age Benefit Institute from Rs700 to Rs1,000 per month. The president favoured the demand for increase in the minimum wages of workers from Rs2,500 to Rs3,000, but said Web cop should arrive at an amicable decision in this respect.

He referred to 18 per cent growth in the industrial sector and said it was a result of government's policies pursued in the last few years. "The import of machinery worth as much as $1 billion in the last year reflects tremendous confidence in our policies," he said.

The president said his government rationalized the distorted tariff structure, reducing and waiving duties in line with industrial requirements. He also endorsed reduction in duties on raw material, saying that it would help bolster the local industry.

Describing the success of public-private partnership in the form of new industrial estates, particularly the Sunder Estate in Lahore, as heart-warming, he said the industrial estates would be replicated in Karachi and Faisalabad as they were to be substantive stride towards soaring industrial growth.

About 80 per cent of the new ventures there were small and medium enterprises, which would help distribute wealth among wider sections of population, he observed.

He said the government was focusing on the development of textile industry, but observed that this vital sector of the national economy had just 6 per cent share in world trade. -APP