KARACHI, March 20: President Gen Pervez Musharraf said on Sunday that he saw a very bright future for textile industry in Pakistan. “I look forward to expansion of the textile industry,” he said at a dinner arranged in connection with the Textile Asia 2005 exhibition here at Governor’s House. The president said he also looked forward to local and overseas Pakistanis and foreign investors investing in the country.

He said he was trying his best to get maximum market access in the world for Pakistani textiles.

The president said he had asked European leaders to treat Pakistan as a special case for inclusion in the GSP Plus facility.

“I have spoken to the leadership in the United States, including President Bush, asking that Pakistan should be seen as a special case for maximum market access into the US by lowering the duties on textile exports from Pakistan,” he said.

President Musharraf said when the textile industry expanded, more jobs would be created and poverty would be alleviated. This would also contribute to fighting extremism and terrorism, he said.

He said the government was trying its best to set up textile and garment cities and one of those would be established in Karachi.

He said the exhibition demonstrated the spirit of public-private partnership, which was the way to optimise the output of exports and the textile industry.

He said textile was the backbone of the country’s industry and was contributing a lot to the economy.

He said there should be greater value addition and improvement in the quality through import of textile machinery.—APP