Minister of State and Chairman Export Promotion Bureau (EPB) Tariq Ikram has supported the textile and garment industry demand for ensuring a level playing field against their competitors in the world market. He stressed upon the need for the government support to the industry for a period of next 12 to 24 months to ensure the sustainability of the GDP growth. He said that the Planning Commission was working on a strategy to boost exports.

The support, however, should not come in a traditional form of subsidy but in a way to enable the textile industry to face the ongoing price war amongst the regional competitors. He said that without maintaining growth in export of textiles and garments the country could not maintain the growth momentum or achieve export target of $18.6 billion for current fiscal. However, lately a new trend has been witnessed where the manufacturing base of textile industry has started to shift to new locations and countries. It was not only the relocation of textile industry that was gaining pace but new players in textiles and clothing such as Vietnam, Cambodia, Jordan and Eastern Europe are also emerging.