ISLAMABAD, Sept 11: Prime Minister Shaukat Aziz has said that the creation of new ministry of textile industry is an initiative of the government to gear up the textile sector and facilitate enhanced production of good quality cotton.

He said the textile industry constituted 60 per cent of industrial base and export. "It is the largest employer and thus demands a focused and proactive approach for its promotion."

With the end of quota regime in January 2005, Pakistan was poised to leverage this potential opportunity, he remarked.

Pakistan, he said, had natural and comparative advantage as the country produced excellent textile products. "Our location is such that we can access markets with relative ease."

Mr Aziz said that by organizing the textile ministry on modern lines with dedicated, focused and proactive approach, Pakistan could boost exports in the textile sector.

The prime minister directed Textile Industry Minister Mushtaq Ali Cheema, who called on him at the Prime Minister House here on Saturday, to make the ministry a model to cater to the private sector demands.

Mr Aziz said a focused approach by the ministry would allow better coordination with other ministries, departments, ginners, weavers, spinners in the textile industry.

He said the textile industry had also an important relation with the agriculture sector as the two were interlinked.

"The agriculture sector is a feed stock of textile, and the policy of the government is to increase production of good quality cotton free of contamination so that a grower could also get the best return of his crop."

The minister for textile industry assured the prime minister that he would make the new initiative a success and facilitate the textile sector and the cotton grower to boost export and cotton production.

Mr Cheema said there was a great potential for textile export and the new ministry would adopt a proactive approach in locating new markets and opportunities for export.-APP