SIALKOT, Nov 26: The Global Forum for Sports and Environment (G-forSE) conference hailed the success of Sialkot's child labour eradication programme.

The conference held at the local chamber of commerce and industry on Friday unanimously approved a joint declaration on "Corporate Environment Responsibility" for recognizing the value of involving the private sector in achieving the UN's millennium goals.

Some 23 male and female delegates around the world attended the conference. World Federation of Sporting Goods Industry's (WFSGI) secretary-general Andre Gorgemans said the importance of participation of the corporate sector in implementing the UN's Decade on Education for Sustainable Development and the celebrations of the UN's year of peace and physical education 2005 would be noted.

He said a considerable progress had already been made in incorporating environmental concerns in the work of sports goods companies under the declaration. He said that delegates were inspired by the social progress achieved in many parts of the world, including Lahore and Sialkot, where child labour had been eliminated from the soccer ball industry.

In a seven-point declaration, the G-forSE, the WFSGI, the FIFA and the SCCI pledged to make frantic efforts in raising the importance of sustainable development and environment in their work places, including the environment as a key factor in non-financial reporting, reducing and improving the use of water and energy during the production of sports goods, introducing cleaner technology, reducing the amount of toxic and chemical waste produced and other pollution in their production facilities, etc.

State Minister for Environment Malik Ameen Aslam Khan, WFSGI president Michael Perrauddin, FIFA officials Hasrtmut Stahi, Christian Hochfeld, SCCI office bearers, ILO-IMAC official Nasir Dogar and Sialkot District Nazim Mian Naeem Javaid also hailed in their speeches the unique export culture of Sialkot.

They said the child labour eradication programme had become a model for the sports goods industry around the world, advising all the companies of member countries to replicate it.

The WFSGI president and the secretary-general stressed the need for adopting some effective measures for boosting the export-oriented sports goods industry of Sialkot on priority basis.

They said that sports industry and environment were linked together in such a way that they could not be viewed separately. Under the new challenges, they said sports goods industry should focus on improving the manufacturing condition and ensuring pollution-free production.

Speaking on the occasion state minister Malik Ameen Aslam Khan said that revolutionary arrangements had been made for combating the environmental degradation in the country.

He said that drastic steps had been taken for installing five effluent plants in Sialkot, Lahore, Multan, Faisalabad and Karachi to avert pollution threat caused by the industrial sectors in these major cities.

The state minister said the work on Sialkot tanneries zone project would be carried out shortly where combined effluent plant would be installed jointly by the government and private sector.

The tanneries functioning in and around Sialkot would be shifted to the tannery zone under a specific formula which would help reduce the pollution. The government, he said, was endeavouring to provide pollution-free environment for industrial sector to cope with the new global challenges.

He also underscored the need of collective efforts to curb the threat of pollution and for improving the manufacturing condition in the country's industrial sector. The business community of Sialkot had played a vital role in purging the child labour from the soccer ball industry, he added.