2nd ATEXCON to evolve a Pan-Asia strategy for textile growth

New Delhi, Jan 15 (UNI) A two-day second edition of the Asian Textile Conference (ATEXCON) will get underway here from January 18 to provide a forum for interface among Asian textile players, experts and policy makers to develop synergies for enhancing the combined share of the region in the global market.

The Conference, being organised by the Confederation of Indian Textile Industry (CITI) and to be inaugurated by Textile Minister Shankersinh Vaghela, will bring together industry delegations from major Asian textile and apparel nations.

The ATEXCON is being held concurrently with the 4-day-long Ist International Textile Machinery Exhibition (Texmac India 2007), which is being organised by IMAG (International Messe, Germany). Mr Vaghela will also inaugurate the Texmac India on January 17, 2008.

The two-day conference is taking place at a time when the textile sector in Asia is on a roll. Phasing out of the MFA in January 2005 created a lot of opportunities and an equal number of challenges for the Asian textile units. Textile units in Western countries, which had been kept under artificial respiration under the quota system have now become unviable, CITI said in a statement here today.

New business models have to be created to take over the market slots being vacated by them. Some of the issues that may come up at the conference are greater south - south co-operation, combined effort forexploring emerging markets, sourcing intermediary products from the region, inviting foreign investment and creating an institutional framework for facilitating intra-trade and export to third country destinations by the Asian countries.

It will have interesting sesions focusing on technology, capacity building, value addition, international trade and sourcing.

UNI