 Top Brazilian and United States textile and apparel executives met with Brazilian and U.S. government officials yesterday in Washington, D.C, to discuss the challenges and opportunities of international trade.
The one-day summit, Textiles and Clothing: U.S.–Brazil Dialogue on the Challenges of Globalization, focused on the need to continue to forge and strengthen partnerships between the two countries and to integrate trade relationships throughout the hemisphere and around the world.
The summit concluded with the leaders of the American Apparel and Footwear Association (AAFA) and the Brazilian Textile and Apparel Industry Association (ABIT) signing a memorandum of understanding as the first step in continuing and increasing cooperation.
Brazilian Ambassador to the U.S. Antonio Patriota opened the summit by emphasizing its objectives. “We are at the beginning of a new age of cooperation between our two countries,” Patriota said.
“This is our first bilateral summit concerning textiles and apparel, and it comes at a time when both of us are facing unprecedented competition from abroad.
As we find ways to work together we will see both of our industries strengthened. The large turnout here from Brazil and the U.S, both from industry and government, is very gratifying, and it indicates to me that summit is only the first of many meetings toward closer relations.”
The summit followed an April 28 session of the U.S.-Brazil CEO Forum, which was launched in 2007 to strengthen bilateral economic and commercial relations. The April 29 textile and apparel summit is the first industry-specific effort toward that objective.
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