LAHORE: The Pak-China Joint Chamber of Commerce and Industry has urged both countries to initiate joint ventures in the handicrafts sector as shifting of the Chinese handicrafts industry to Pakistan can play a momentous role in empowering Pakistani women associated with the industry.

China can be very helpful in attaining this goal because it is one of the leading producers of handmade products with around 30 per cent share in the world trade butwith the technological advancements the handmade sector has transformed to machines.

`Currently, China`s handicraft manufacturing industry is facing challenges due to expensive labor whereas demand for the traditional handmade products is on the rise.

It would be beneficial for Pakistan to initiate joint ventures with China on the basis of buyback guarantee under which raw material and wages would be provided by China and, in return, the market driven handicraft items would be produced by Pakistan`, says PCJCCI President ShahFaisal Afridi in a news statement.

He says Pakistan can become the manufacturing house of handicrafts and giftware for China as Pakistan is enriched with a labor captive skilled human resource in the form of rural women.

Afridi says there is a dire need to tap this segment to empower more than 50pc population of women in Pakistan.

He asserts that revival of the handicrafts industry lies in the development of infrastructure, provision of financial support to women artisans, establishment of direct links between buyers andartisans, elimination of middlemen and improved marketing facilities.

He says nearly 65pc women in Pakistan earn their livelihood from the handicraft, but the rising cost of inputs, difficult access to credit and poor marketing network, have brought the industry to its present dismal state.

He suggests that concerted efforts should be made to promote handicraft and cottage industries by establishing new industrial estates and the cottage industry in villages for bringing together the cottage industry at one place.