Danish companies offer solutions to textile industry

KARACHI: A seminar ‘Sustainable Biochemistry for Enzymatic Textiles Processing’ was organised on Friday under the auspices of the Denmark Embassy in Pakistan.

Jakob Roglid Jakobsen, Deputy Head of Mission, said that Danish companies had solutions to some of the key challenges being faced by the industry in Pakistan. “Danish and Pakistani companies can forge partnership in a variety of sectors to benefit from each others competencies,” he added.

He said Pakistan’s textile industry was facing constant challenges, particularly due to the energy and water shortage, as well as high cost of raw material, which directly hampered competitiveness in the international market. “Sustainable technological solutions can help the industry in mitigating these challenges,” Jakobsen said.

He said the embassy was planning further delegations to Pakistan in the area of water technology, agri-business, and power sector.

Assar Qureshi, Commercial Counsellor at the Danish Embassy said that Denmark wanted to further enhance trade relations with Pakistan. He said the trade section at the embassy had started two and a half years ago, which resulted in enhancement of bilateral trade to $450 million. He said Pakistan’s exports to Denmark increased by 30 percent in 2014 and imports grew by 17 percent.

Qureshi emphasised that business to business contacts were crucial in increasing bilateral trade. He said the visit of Novozymes could help local entrepreneurs in cost effective solutions. The commercial counsellor said that Denmark had played a positive role in granting Pakistan GSP Plus status, which had benefitted the country’s textile industry.

Jens Kolind, Vice President, Technical Industries at Novozymes, said that sustainable business practices, improved quality and innovation and should not come at a price of competitiveness. Some of the solutions highlighted at the seminar showed that energy costs would be reduced by 25 percent, water consumption reduced by up to 75 percent, processing temperature reduced to 20 centigrade, and process shortened by up to 90 minutes.