Duty free access from ROZ's a non-starter - Experts

07 Apr '09

2 min read

Mr Barrack Obama, President of the United States, had recently declared that the US would provide tariff free access to textile and apparel products manufactured on the Pakistan-Afghanistan border regions to be called Reconstruction Opportunity Zones (ROZ's)

He had also added by saying that the duty free access would be provided on select textile and apparel products irrespective of the origin of the raw materials used in these products. This he said would go a long way in generating employment in the region.

But the textile and clothing industry in Pakistan is far from excited on hearing the proposal. Experts aver that, there is not a single unit remotely connected to the sector in the border areas, so this policy would be a non-starter in the short term.

One more drawback that the policy carries, say experts, is that, it excludes the largest variety of products that is exported to the US; Cotton knit shirts and cotton trousers which account for 90 percent of all exports from the sector to the US.

The bill also carries with it stringent labour law standards, the adherence to which would be one of the key parameters to getting the duty free access for these products and the Pakistan government would need to file regular reports on the observance of these norms.

Fibre2fashion News Desk - India

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