As part of the Government's plans to develop the country's textile industry at a galloping pace, the Textile Ministry is expected to propose a number of sops to promote foreign investments.
Hence, the upcoming Textile Industry Development Policy 2007 has plans to propose a 10-year tax holiday both to foreign investment in textile machinery manufacturing and in establishment of bonded cotton warehouses in the country.
Apart from expanding the textile sector, these measures are also aimed at grapping Pakistan's share in the international market in the near and far future.
At a time when the sector requires big investments in setting up a machine-manufacturing base, textile equipment makers are relocating to China. The Government, therefore, thought this was the right time to attract overseas machinery enterprises.
Attracting foreign investment in cotton warehouses will address APTMA's apprehensions of high price of local cotton. This is also aimed at competing with Bangladesh, which already gives a 10-year tax holiday to investors in bonded warehouses for cotton.
Pakistan's Export Plan 2006-13 seeks to augment exports of textile and garment sector from $9.98 billion in 2006 to a whopping $24.36 billion in 2013. The textile exports target for the current fiscal year has been set at $12 billion.