The Japan International Cooperation Agency (JICA) and the Ministry of Textile Industry held a meeting on Thursday to work out parameters for the project of “Skill Development and Market Diversification” (PSDMD) for the garment industry. JICA Senior Advisor Takafumi Ueda and Ministry of Textile Industry Secretary Amir Marwat led the meeting held at the Ministry of Textile Industry. It was mutually agreed in the meeting that JICA experts would facilitate the garment sector, specially the small and medium enterprises (SMEs), in the field of international marketing practices along with compliance requirement, marketing and product diversification. The second component of the project would focus on capacity building of the two Export Development Fund (EDF) institutes, Pakistan Readymade Garment Technical Training Institute (PRGTTI) and Pakistan Knitwear Training Institute (PKTI), managed by the Pakistan Readymade Garments Manufacturers and Exporters Association (PRGMEA) and the Pakistan Hosiery Manufacturing Association (PHMA) respectively. The JICA experts would impart training and provide necessary machinery for the institutes. The third component relates to training institute at Faisalabad Garment City. Takafumi Ueda said, “JICA previously coordinated with the textile sector of Pakistan in 1993 by helping upgrade the National Textile University Faisalabad. The new project would open a new era of cooperation between JICA and Ministry of Textile Industry, as JICA would provide technical assistance in different fields of textiles sector.” Amir Sarwat highlighted that Pakistan has inherent advantage of being 4th largest producer of cotton in the world with a huge potential to further increase crop yield. For success of any export led Industry, local availability of basic raw material is considered as an added advantage. The Textile Industry secretary praised JICA for providing technical support to the textile industry. He said that this project would facilitate in achieving goals and objectives set forth in the Textiles Policy 2014-19. “The project would be beneficial in imparting higher skills in the area of garments along with market and product diversification of textile sector which are crucial for enhancing country exports for earning precious foreign exchange,” he added. PRGMEA Chairman Ijaz Khokhar, PRGTTI Vice-chairman Sohail Afzal, PKTI Chairman Adil Butt, PHMA executive member Rehan Bharara, Faisalabad Garments City Company chairman along with senior officers of the Ministry and JICA attended the meeting.
