US market access facility: Textile industry demands ROZ's wider scope

Textile industry has demanded wider scope of Reconstruction Opportunity Zones (ROZs) under the much-awaited market access facility for Pakistani products from the US.
The ROZs facility should immediately be extended to the walled business places including Sundar Industrial Estate in Lahore, Garment City in Karachi, Small Industrial Estate in Multan and Faisalabad Industrial Estate Development & Management Company (FIEDMC) in Faisalabad, said the textile industry circles.
All kinds of fabric stitched in these walled business places should be treated as produced in ROZs, they added.
It may be noted that the former President Bush had announced Reconstruction Opportunity Zones (ROZs) in tribal areas during his visit to Pakistan. But this announcement has failed to materialise so far, resulting into resentment among textile millers at large.
The Pakistan government officials have once again reiterated its longstanding demand of market access in their talks with the US Deputy Secretary of State for Management and Resources, Thomas R Nides.
The textile circles have pointed out that Pakistan's textile industry has paid heavy price of war on terror in the form of direct exports, visa restrictions, infrastructure constraints and its image as a trustworthy supplier of textile products.
It may be noted that Pakistan has exported 3 billion dollars textile products in 2010 out of total 3.5 billion dollars exports to the US. Therefore, said the industry circles, the textile industry is only real stakeholder of the situation, and an early provision of market access would generate employment in the country.
They expressed the hope that an economic co-operation, involving bilateral investment and market access to Pakistani exports would prove a way forward for Pak-US bilateral relations.
It may be noted that US is a market of 93 billion dollars of textile and clothing imports and Pakistan's share to this huge import bill is just 3 percent. And of the 93 percent, some 27 percent goes to preferential regions/countries around the world.
An enhancement in the scope of ROZs facility, they hoped, would result into more textile mills within a year, generating millions of jobs across the country to divert the youth to productive rather than destructive activities. It will also enhance GDP growth of Pakistan, they said.