SIALKOT, May 6: Swedish Ambassador Ann Wilkens has expressed satisfaction over the eradication of child labour from the football industry. She was speaking at a meeting of the Independent Monitoring Association for Child Labour at the Sialkot Chamber of Commerce and Industry on Thursday.

Swedish commercial counsellor Leenart Holst, Federation of Trade-Import Council Director Borje Risnggard, IMAC’s Chairman Khwaja Zakauddin and CEO Nasir Dogar and CSDO representatives were also present.

The ambassador hailed ILO, IMAC, SCCI, CSDO and the Pakistan government’s efforts for purging the football industry of child labour.

Briefing Swedish ambassador, Khwaja Zakauddin and Nasir Dogar said the IMAC currently provided workplace monitoring services to the industry. It also helped the industry to ensure social compliance, in particular child labour-free football production and improving working conditions.

They said the ILO handed over the workplace monitoring system to IMAC in March, 2003. Since then, the IMAC had been carrying out the workplace monitoring for child labour as well as the social monitoring with transparency.