RECORDER REPORT
FAISALABAD: Textile Corner (TC) will be established in the R&D (Research and Development) cell of the Faisalabad Chamber of Commerce and Industry (FCCI) to help out the entire chain of textile sector to get adopt and upgrade new technology with the help of the experts of the National Textile University (NTU).
This was disclosed by President FCCI Muhammad Saeed Sheikh. He along with Ahmed Hassan also presented a cheque of Rs.0.5 million to NTU to carry out the research activities and bring a qualitative improvement in the industry academia linkages. They also signed an upgraded MOU (Memorandum of Understanding) which was earlier inked between FCCI and NTU about two years ago.
They said that textile is the biggest industry of Pakistan which is earning foreign exchange of $12 billion per annum for the country. Out of it $6 billion is contributed by the exporters of Faisalabad, they said and added that textile export is declining for the last many years only due to the international recession coupled with energy crisis and inconsistent domestic policies. He termed it an alarm bell and eye opener for the economic managers which demands immediate remedial measures.
Commenting on the industrial cooperation under fourth phase of CPEC, they said that industry-academia linkage is imperative to survive in fast changing economic scenario. They said that in order to bridge the widening gap between industry and academia, FCCI and NTU have agreed to set up a textile corner which will provide guidance, awareness to the exporters to adopt new technologies in order to improve the quality of their products. It will also help in sensitizing businessmen to promote value-addition and earn more profit from their exportable surplus. He said that few major industrial concerns have established their own dedicated R&D sections to develop new and innovation products.
The Small and Medium Entrepreneurs (SME) are unable to spent sufficient amount on this head to make their efforts fruitful and productive. However, now they could avail this facility from the Textile Concern which will be housed in FCCI, they added.
According to the new MOU, FCCI and NTU will jointly arranged awareness session for the benefit of textile manufacturers.
Dr. Tanveer Hussain Rector NTU thanked the cooperation extended by FCCI and told that technology up gradation is a continuous process and we have to make constant efforts to survive in the competitive international markets. On the request of VP Ahmed Hassan, the Rector assured to depute a team of young researchers to determine the contribution of textile sector, in the overall GDP of Faisalabad.
Rehan Naseem Bhararah Chairman Faisalabad Textile City, former president FCCI Muzammil Sultan, Tajammul Hussnain and Dr. Sajjad of NTU were also present during the meeting.
