Netherlands would work with ILO in Pakistan to ensure ILS compliant textile exports to Europe
H.E. Lilliane Ploumen, Minister for Trade and Development, Kingdom of Netherlands, has identified a number of avenues where the Textile Industries in Pakistan in collaboration with ILO, can bring improvements in the work practices thus enabling more exports to Europe, while talking at a roundtable organized jointly by ILO and the Netherlands Embassy.
Islamabad (ILO News): H.E. Lilliane Ploumen, Minister for Trade and Development, Kingdom of Netherlands, has identified a number of avenues where the Textile Industries in Pakistan in collaboration with ILO, can bring improvements in the work practices thus enabling more exports to Europe. She was talking at a roundtable organized jointly by ILO and the Netherlands Embassy on ‘Pakistani Textile Sector in International Arena’ here in Islamabad. Ms Ploumen informed that the Netherlands Government is going to announce a facility for SMEs in developing countries to improve their work practices and enhance compliance with global and EU standards. Though this facility will not be in the shape of grant-in-aid but will be either a loan or an equity. She emphasized on the Pakistani textile industries and business community to provide better working conditions to the workers in the factories and in return, she will strongly advocate more trade for Pakistan in EU. She said ‘Free Trade’ is not free for all rather it has a lot of attached responsibilities for industries – as the international buyers are increasingly getting sensitive about ethical sourcing and international compliances.
Apart from the Netherlands Minister, the Pakistani Federal Minister for Textile Industries, Provincial Minister for Labour & Human Resource Punjab, the Ambassador of EU in Pakistan, the Chairman APTMA and the Country Director of ILO-Islamabad were the main speakers at the roundtable. In addition, the roundtable was attended by more than 50 senior Government Officers, diplomats, heads of the Textile and Garments Associations, representatives from Workers and Employers organizations, academia and civil society organizations.
The Federal Minister for Textile Industries, Mr Abbas Khan Afridi was the Chief Guest at the occasion and he highlighted salient features of Pakistani textiles in domestic and international markets. He also highlighted that the Government of Pakistan is now moving towards ‘high-value addition’ in the textile sector and would be keen to collaborate with ILO and other development partners to enable Pakistani Textiles to find new international markets.
The Provincial Minister for Labour & Human Resource Punjab, Raja Ashfaq Sarwar welcomed the visiting Minister from Netherlands and appreciated the willingness of European Governments to agreeing to the commitment of Pakistani Government on ‘enhancing Trade not Aid’. He enumerated a number of initiatives that the Punjab Government has started to provide better working conditions and appreciated the technical support received from ILO. He also mentioned that the Government of Punjab and Pakistan are now moving beyond the boundaries to forge partnerships with South-Asian countries for promoting Decent Work and mentioned a recent ‘South-Asia Labour conference’ in Lahore.
The Chairman All Pakistan Textile Mills-owners Association (APTMA), Mr Yasin Siddique appreciated this joint initiative of ILO and Netherlands and assured them of full cooperation by the Textile Industries to implement Labour Laws and Standards. He requested technical support from ILO and Netherlands in compliance with ILS, water conservation technologies, generating wind-power, enhancing cotton crops yield and providing skilled workforce for Textile and Garment industries.
The Country Director ILO, Mr Francesco d’Ovidio, emphasized the importance of ratifying and implementing ILS for the business community and elaborated current scenario of application of International Labour Standards (ILS) in Pakistan and the situation of working conditions in terms of employment, child labour, informality of work and wages. He also elaborated various ILO Conventions which are ratified by the Government and whose application is required by international buyers. He also highlighted the recent interventions carried out by Federal and Provincial Governments to improve working conditions in the country.
The EU Ambassador to Pakistan, Mr Lars Gunner Wigemark said that in terms of trade volume with EU, Pakistan ranks at 50th position – however, among all countries who got GSP-plus status, Pakistan is the largest among them. Around 70 per cent of Pakistani exports to EU consists of textile and garment products. He said ‘Branding’ is one major area emerging in the European markets and along with this, the European buyers are now increasingly conscious of labelling and the stories behind each label. He said the incidents like Rana Plaza in Bangladesh raises a number of concerns which are common in this region, however, the initiative of ‘South-Asian Labour Conference’ was one major right step to improve this situation and enhance regional cooperation. He said that the regional countries should now seriously look into the issues of child labour, exclusion of women from productive work, occupational safety & health and better environment for Trade Unions. He appreciated the efforts of the Government of Punjab for a complete elimination of Child Labour from the province.
During an interactive session, participants identified a number of areas including compliance with ILS as a matter of ‘right of people’ instead of only a business case; importance of improving country’s statistics and databases; increasing informality of workers; extra time required for Pakistani industries to fully comply with labour standards; higher wages being paid by Pakistan as compared to India and Bangladesh and technical support from ILO and Netherlands to improve compliances.
The roundtable concluded with a commitment from all stakeholders to work together to improve the working conditions in Pakistani exporting industries thus enhance trade opportunities for the country.
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Apart from the Netherlands Minister, the Pakistani Federal Minister for Textile Industries, Provincial Minister for Labour & Human Resource Punjab, the Ambassador of EU in Pakistan, the Chairman APTMA and the Country Director of ILO-Islamabad were the main speakers at the roundtable. In addition, the roundtable was attended by more than 50 senior Government Officers, diplomats, heads of the Textile and Garments Associations, representatives from Workers and Employers organizations, academia and civil society organizations.
The Federal Minister for Textile Industries, Mr Abbas Khan Afridi was the Chief Guest at the occasion and he highlighted salient features of Pakistani textiles in domestic and international markets. He also highlighted that the Government of Pakistan is now moving towards ‘high-value addition’ in the textile sector and would be keen to collaborate with ILO and other development partners to enable Pakistani Textiles to find new international markets.
The Provincial Minister for Labour & Human Resource Punjab, Raja Ashfaq Sarwar welcomed the visiting Minister from Netherlands and appreciated the willingness of European Governments to agreeing to the commitment of Pakistani Government on ‘enhancing Trade not Aid’. He enumerated a number of initiatives that the Punjab Government has started to provide better working conditions and appreciated the technical support received from ILO. He also mentioned that the Government of Punjab and Pakistan are now moving beyond the boundaries to forge partnerships with South-Asian countries for promoting Decent Work and mentioned a recent ‘South-Asia Labour conference’ in Lahore.
The Chairman All Pakistan Textile Mills-owners Association (APTMA), Mr Yasin Siddique appreciated this joint initiative of ILO and Netherlands and assured them of full cooperation by the Textile Industries to implement Labour Laws and Standards. He requested technical support from ILO and Netherlands in compliance with ILS, water conservation technologies, generating wind-power, enhancing cotton crops yield and providing skilled workforce for Textile and Garment industries.
The Country Director ILO, Mr Francesco d’Ovidio, emphasized the importance of ratifying and implementing ILS for the business community and elaborated current scenario of application of International Labour Standards (ILS) in Pakistan and the situation of working conditions in terms of employment, child labour, informality of work and wages. He also elaborated various ILO Conventions which are ratified by the Government and whose application is required by international buyers. He also highlighted the recent interventions carried out by Federal and Provincial Governments to improve working conditions in the country.
The EU Ambassador to Pakistan, Mr Lars Gunner Wigemark said that in terms of trade volume with EU, Pakistan ranks at 50th position – however, among all countries who got GSP-plus status, Pakistan is the largest among them. Around 70 per cent of Pakistani exports to EU consists of textile and garment products. He said ‘Branding’ is one major area emerging in the European markets and along with this, the European buyers are now increasingly conscious of labelling and the stories behind each label. He said the incidents like Rana Plaza in Bangladesh raises a number of concerns which are common in this region, however, the initiative of ‘South-Asian Labour Conference’ was one major right step to improve this situation and enhance regional cooperation. He said that the regional countries should now seriously look into the issues of child labour, exclusion of women from productive work, occupational safety & health and better environment for Trade Unions. He appreciated the efforts of the Government of Punjab for a complete elimination of Child Labour from the province.
During an interactive session, participants identified a number of areas including compliance with ILS as a matter of ‘right of people’ instead of only a business case; importance of improving country’s statistics and databases; increasing informality of workers; extra time required for Pakistani industries to fully comply with labour standards; higher wages being paid by Pakistan as compared to India and Bangladesh and technical support from ILO and Netherlands to improve compliances.
The roundtable concluded with a commitment from all stakeholders to work together to improve the working conditions in Pakistani exporting industries thus enhance trade opportunities for the country.
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Ms Hiba Siddiqui,Media Focal Person
Tel: 051-2276456-8