Following a meeting between the chairman of the Pakistan’s National Vocational & Technical Education Commission (NAVTEC), Altaf Saleem, and a delegation from the Leather Products Development Institute (LPDI) in Sialkot, on April 6, it was announced that the LPDI will soon become affiliated with Williams College in the UK, thus bringing the quality of training at the Pakistani institute in line with international standards.

Some 618 people have already been trained at the institute—which runs courses in leather garment manufacturing, pattern design, glove manufacturing and computerised pattern making—and it currently has 117 students enrolled on its courses. All of those who have completed courses are now said to be employed in the leather industry in the Sialkot region.