AGOA - Unique opportunity for clothing exports

27 Feb '10

2 min read

Gambia's Minister of Trade and Employment, Hon. Babucarr H.M. Jallow said that the government would continue to take efforts towards elevating export sector of the country.

He was speaking at a training workshop on apparel exports, which was organized co-hosted by the United States Embassy in Banjul and the West Africa Trade Hub (WATH).

The Trade and Employment Ministry is taking steps to escalate Gambian exports to the US markets. Preferential US market access offered to the country under the AGOA is a unique opportunity, which should be utilized at the most, opined the Minister.

He added that the industry entrepreneurs should join forces, complement one another's areas of specializations and group their resources, in order to create more impact.

The entrepreneurs of the industry, who get initial orders from US clients, have been asked by the Minster to explore possibilities of outsourcing a part of the orders to their counterparts in the industry without compromising on overall quality.

He added that before exploring the US market, there is a need to address some major factors in areas such as neat and acceptable finishing, consistent pattern cutting, dealing with large orders and timely delivery.

He said that textile and apparel industry is able to represent a good starting point in this regard and imparting proper training to the industry workers would enhance the expertise, he added.

Noting that the Ministry expects private sectors in textile and apparel industry to utilize AGOA initiative to the utmost, he assured them that they will receive maximum support from the Ministry.

Fibre2fashion News Desk - India