ITME Africa 2020 opens new era of cooperation

The highlights of the exhibition included donation of a “Laxmi CM-R Shuttleless Flexible Rapier Loom” from the Laxmi Shuttleless Looms Private Limited, to the Ethiopian Textile and Fashion Technology (EiTEX), Bahir Dar University. EiTEX is Ethiopia’s premier textile educational institution, and the powerloom will contribute to teaching of EiTEX’s cadre of over 3,000 students and expose enterprises in the Bahir Dar area to the newest weaving technologies available.

Anurag Srivastava, Ambassador of India to The Federal Democratic Republic of Ethiopia said, “India is a front runner for investment in Ethiopia for textile and garment industry. There is a tremendous untapped potential for export of readymade garments from Ethiopia to the West. Therefore, the textile industry should explore investment possibilities in Ethiopia and take advantage of the duty-free facilities.”

Dorothy Tembo, executive director, International Trade Centre, UN, Geneva said, “ITME Africa 2020 is a tribute to the African continent and the trade relation between India and Ethiopia over the past 2 decades have increased more than 8-fold. While African companies are interested in upgrading their machineries, the major challenge they face is the financial support.”

At the event, buyer delegations from Ethiopia, Botswana, Ghana, Uganda, Rwanda and Tanzania showed keen interest in doing business with the Indian participating companies.

Concurrent programmes included a seminar on 'Potential Africa' conducted by the Ethiopian Textiles Industry Development Institute (ETIDI), and a technical seminar on 'Cotton Development' by ITC. There was also an investment seminar organised by ITC and moderated by Govind Venuprasad, coordinator – SITA, ITC. All these seminars saw an excellent response and were well received by the audience.

Click here to read the complete post-event report.

Fibre2Fashion News Desk (RKS)