Meanwhile, in order to encourage the textile industry, the programme envisaged greater participation by women. In this regard, the Ministry of Commerce will explicitly review labour laws to allow women to work in three shifts.
In collaboration with private stakeholders and concerned government vocational training institutions, the Ministry of Commerce will take steps to introduce mass-level women’s-exclusive textiles and apparel training programmes, especially in apparel stitching.
The Ministry of Commerce will propose connecting support initiatives to provide workplace facilitation for women, such as day-care centres, pick and drop, etc.
ISLAMABAD: A holistic package for the garment and apparel supply chain has been created by the government to encourage local development and the country’s exports.
The kit will be declared for particular industries such as cotton, manmade fabrics, natural fibres, ginning, spinning, knitting, weaving and manufacturing, clothing and made-up/home textiles, carpets, and crafts as part of the textile policy.
According to official documents published by Dharti News, sector-specific steps will be enforced in phases to ensure the uninterrupted supply of raw materials and semi-finished goods to local value-added manufacturers.
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The Ministry of Commerce is aiming to encourage foreign and domestic seed companies to launch the country’s new seed technologies as part of the kit. The question of sustainability in cotton farming would also be resolved by yield increases.
To encourage farmers and value-added exporters, the government also aims to re-introduce cotton hedge trade. This paradigm has worked widely in other nations. In addition, to enforce the Cotton Control Act, provinces will be encouraged and cotton exporters will be encouraged to increase quality and prevent any risk of low cotton prices.
A grading-based cotton marketing system will also be adopted by the Ministry of Commerce in consultation with stakeholders. The Ministry of Commerce will join hands with the Ministry of Food Security in order to increase the cotton field, production and, above all, yield. In addition, the scope of the Better Cotton Initiative (BCI) will be expanded to ensure that BCI-certified cotton is made available in bulk to the clothing and apparel supply chain.
Under the programme, the government will rationalise man-made fibres (MMF) and filament-based supply chain tariff and customs duty drawback prices. In order to close the demand and supply gap in the output of fibre-filament, foreign businesses will also be encouraged to participate.
In addition, the MMF can be made duty free, since it is not assembled locally.
A committee will be set up to establish the supply chain for linen, jute, silk, hemp, and other natural fibre textiles and clothing. Until these industries expand, raw and semi-processed materials will be subject to zero import tariffs.
The ministry is also working to immediately update ginning technology, while the provincial departments will be charged with connecting the licences to technology upgradation of the ginning industry.
In addition, the government will address the path forward to turn the ginning sector into the service industry and policy steps will be formulated as the change along with the implementation of hedge trading will help farmers get a fair price.
The documents noted that the spinning, knitting, weaving and processing industries have the highest share of large-scale manufacturing and that the abundance of yarn and fabric has given Pakistani downstream value-added export-oriented industries a lead-time advantage over competitors.
Investment in these sectors will be facilitated by steps such as the revision of the Long Term Financing Facility (LTFF) to cover indirect exporters, the revision of customs duty disadvantages and the simplification of temporary import systems, inter-/intra-transfer, general bonded warehousing and tariff streamlining of the entire value chain.
The trend has been changed in favour of finished goods, i.e. clothing and make ups, has been noted worldwide. The government will introduce professional development programmes, review labour laws and the position of regulatory agencies, foreign and domestic labour enforcement, and, more specifically, simplify temporary imports, in order to quickly expand these industries.
In addition, new clothing cities will be built to provide state-of-the-art infrastructure for plug and play machinery installations for small and medium enterprises.
As a value-added made-up industry in the world, carpets, particularly in the hand-woven category, will be given due importance. The Ministry of Commerce will launch projects to support the skills growth, technological upgrading, architecture advancement, infrastructure support and marketing sectors.
The craft economy of Pakistan is plagued by non-legislation for the manufacture and sale of handicraft goods, non-existent foreign networking assistance, lack of facilities for design and capability development, and lack of credit facilities from banks and financial institutions.
The Ministry of Commerce will emphasise the collective approach to the promotion of the craft sector and provide support for the growth of expertise, technological improvements, creativity in architecture, support for infrastructure and marketing.
Artisans will also be invited to showcase their art and products in national as well as international exhibits by providing resources and financial support.
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Meanwhile, in order to encourage the textile industry, the programme envisaged greater participation by women. In this regard, the Ministry of Commerce will explicitly review labour laws to allow women to work in three shifts.
In collaboration with private stakeholders and concerned government vocational training institutions, the Ministry of Commerce will take steps to introduce mass-level women’s-exclusive textiles and apparel training programmes, especially in apparel stitching.
The Ministry of Commerce will propose connecting support initiatives to provide workplace facilitation for women, such as day-care centres, pick and drop, etc.
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