KARACHI, Feb 17: Federal Minister for Industries and Production Liaquat Ali Jatoi on Monday resolved to remove all the irritants being faced by textile industry.

In a meeting with the Textile Commissioners’ Organization, the minister stressed upon the need to remove problems in respect of customs duty, sales tax and DTRE rules.

He said the textile industry needs immediate government commitment towards resolving issues and facilitating the industry which has 68 per cent share in export earnings and 8.5 per cent share in GDP.

Jatoi said without giving due attention to textile industry unemployment problem could not be controlled as this vital industry provides 38 per cent employment to our work-force.

In order to take up all these issues the minister convened a meeting of Federal Textile Board on Feb 24, in Islamabad. Taking note of the downward trend in unit price, Liaquat Ali Jatoi emphasised upon the need to check this trend by adopting appropriate measures.

He also desired that a study should be made as to why Pakistan’s competitiveness is at stake when we have cheap inputs of raw material (cotton) and labour compared with other countries of the region.

The minister felt greater need for enhancing global market share for Pakistani textiles and efforts should be made to maximize exports.

He stressed upon the need to impart training programmes from ginning to finished products for improving quality and productivity.

Earlier, a detailed presentation was given by the textile commissioner on performance of the industry, Textile Vision 2005 and the work done by Textile Board.