'Pakistan Govt must divert gas supply to textile industry'

28 Jan '14

2 min read

The Pakistan Government should increase gas prices for domestic consumers in the country in order to divert supply to the industrial sector, including the textile industry, said Federal Secretary of Textile Industry Rukhsana Shah while speaking before the National Assembly Standing Committee on Commerce and Textiles meeting recently held in Islamabad.

At the meeting chaired by National Assembly member Siraj Khan, Ms. Shah expressed that the Government should either stop the provision of gas to domestic consumers or increase the tariff to avoid misuse of the natural resource, reports Business Recorder.

The Government cannot reap the full benefits of the recently attained Generalized System of Preferences Plus (GSP+) status from the European Union (EU), without providing uninterrupted gas supply to the textile industry, she added.

During the meeting, the National Assembly Standing Committee on Commerce and Textiles was also informed that despite many experiments based on international and national research, the cotton production in the country stood at 13 to 15 million bales since last five years.

The committee was informed that during the last two years Bt cotton was cultivated in the country without certification, whereas for current year National Bio Safety Committee has not given certification to cottonseed for cultivation.

The Standing Committee on Commerce and Textiles also suggested implementing a quota system for the export of cotton from the country to fix the volume of export.

Ms. Shah urged the Government to form a GSP+ facilitation committee in order to create awareness regarding the attained status and reap full benefits from the facility.

The Federal Secretary of Textile Industry also expressed that the country’s economy cannot improve without the industrial sector growth which can help alleviate poverty across the country by providing jobs to the skilled manpower.

Fibre2fashion News Desk-India

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