The Government of Pakistan would apply for Least Developed Country (LDC) status, which it would get by 2014, Minister of Textile Industry Makhdoom Shahabuddin has told the National Assembly.
In response to a question, the Minister said Bangladesh benefits from its LDC status, which attracts entrepreneurs to invest in that country.
He said the Government had allowed Pakistani citizens and companies to invest in foreign firms by taking prior approval from the State Bank of Pakistan (SBP).
He informed the Assembly that some Pakistani textile firms have set up branch offices in Bangladesh to improve their exports. He clarified that such companies have not shutdown their operations in Pakistan and have only diversified their operation to meet export orders.
To another question, the Minister said no Pakistani textile firm had shifted its operations to Sri Lanka.
Mr. Shahabuddin said the Government had introduced several measures to support the domestic textile industry and prevent textile firms from shifting abroad. These include the drawback of local taxes and levies (DLTL) scheme, duty-free import of textile related machinery, EOBI contribution re-imbursement scheme, export finance mark-up rate support scheme and mark-up rate support scheme for textile sector, he added.
In addition, there are some other measures like the establishment of Pakistan Textile City at Karachi, garment cities at Faisalabad and Lahore, Pak-Korea Garment Technology Training Institute at Karachi, and refund of past R&D support claims.
Moreover, there are several other initiatives in the pipeline, which include skills development programme for the textile industry, and establishment of Karachi Garment City as well as Cotton Ginning Research and Training Institutes.
The Minister said the Government had disbursed Pk Rs. 23.25 billion in past three years under its Textiles Policy Initiatives. He said the Government was supporting exports through proper implementation of the textile policy.
