FAISALABAD-An informative session on the implementation of International Labour Standards in the industries was held at the auditorium of the Pakistan Textile Exporters Association here on Wednesday.
Implementing social and labour standards can bring economic benefits through increased motivation of workers and productivity in the textile and garments sector, said an expert during the session.
Noor Khan, technical expert of GIZ, a worldwide service provider in the field of international cooperation for sustainable development, emphasised the importance of ratifying and implementing International Labour Standards for the business community. GIZ is promoting social and labour standards by supporting private and state institutions through their project Social and Labour Standards in the Textile and Garment Sector, he said.
He highlighted the interventions carried out by the federal and provincial governments to improve working conditions in the country. Visible progress is being made in the field of compliance with social and labour standards; however industry still faces some major challenges, he said. He identified a number of avenues where the Textile Industries in Pakistan in collaboration with GIZ can bring improvement in the work practices thus enabling more exports to Europe. He asked the industrialists to implement the international labor standards within industries to enhance country’s WGI ranking.
Earlier, Muhammad Naeem, the vice chairman of PTEA, welcomed the guests and briefly enlightened the core functions of PTEA. He appreciated the role of GIZ Pakistan to enhance the compliance with global standards. He said that foreign trade has a lot of attached responsibilities as the international buyers are increasingly getting sensitive about ethical sourcing and international compliances. Textile industry is keen to collaborate with GIZ for improvement of working conditions and implementation of International Labour Standards. The move will lead to increase the foreign trade volume of the country and would upgrade the WGI ranking of Pakistan, he added. He assured GIZ of full support and co-operation for implementation of labour laws and standards in textile industry.