Dr. Mirza Ikhtiar Baig, an adviser on the textile industry to Pakistan's Prime Minister, announced that the U.S. Congress is considering legislation to fund the establishment of Reconstruction Opportunity Zones in Pakistan Federally Administered Tribal Areas (FATA) on the border with Afghanistan. Products manufactured in these special industrial zones will have duty-free access to U.S. markets.

The idea behind the ROZs is to bring development and opportunity to FATA. Architects of the legislation believe the program could help decrease religious extremism in a region that the United States considers a major threat to its national security.

During an exhibition of Pakistani carpets and rugs in New York City on July 10, Mirza Ikhtiar Baig told the Urdu Times that funding the ROZs is good news for Pakistan; however, he expressed apprehension about the implementation and success of the program. "There is no peace in that region. How will industrial infrastructure be built in a lawless area and who will invest there," he commented. The Pakistani government, which is aware of the difficult ground realities in FATA, is proposing that these ROZs be established in safer areas adjacent to FATA.

Washington has excluded trousers and shirts from the list of items to be produced in these ROZs despite these being leading textile products for Pakistan exports. Pakistan's current textile exports to the United States stand at $3 billion annually. According to Ikhtiar Baig, this volume could increase many fold if the United States gives Pakistani textile products greater market access and a break on tariffs. "Washington is denying us the textile export incentives it is offering to countries such as Bahrain, Morocco and Kenya," he said. Every time Islamabad has taken up the issue with U.S. officials, it is told that trade volume of these three countries is far lower than Pakistan. There is a misplaced perception that by raising the quota for Pakistani exports could hurt American textile industry in North Carolina and South Carolina, he opined.

Speaking at the exhibition's inaugural ceremony, the Pakistani official told the crowd that Pakistan is the world's fourth largest cotton producer, with textile products making up 53 percent of it's exports and expressed concern on the negative impact of 17 to 27 percent increases in tariffs for U.S. markets. Islamabad wants to increase its textile exports from the current $10 billion to $25 billion by 2014. Ikhtiar Baig sounded confident that this target will be achieved.