Smriti Irani to represent India at World Cotton Day

"The World Cotton Day launch event will be an opportunity for members, the private sector and the international development community to share knowledge and showcase cotton related activities and products," the ministry of textiles said in a statement.

There will also be a Partners Conference where development partners will discuss and consolidate support for the new project on cotton by products and for other development initiatives.

There will be a photo contest to encourage photographers around the world to communicate strong and positive messages underlying the importance of the cotton value chain. A fashion event will take place to display cotton fashion and designers from different parts of the world with a special focus on Africa.

A cotton exhibition is also being held where The Cotton Textiles Export Promotion Council (TEXPROCIL), Handloom Export Promotion Council (HEPC), Cotton Corporation of India (CCI) and the National Institute of Fashion Technology (NIFT) will be setting up their stalls.

The CCI will be displaying various grades of raw cotton including Suvin, the finest quality of Extra Long Staple (ELS) cotton produced in Tamil Nadu having the highest fibre length. Further, natural coloured cotton that is grown in Dharwad in the state of Karnataka in different colours like dark brown, medium brown, green and cream colours will also be on display. Being naturally coloured there is no need to use synthetic dyes which leads to less toxicity in the fabric when used.

TEXPROCIL will be displaying India’s high quality cotton textiles at the exhibition, while the HEPC will be displaying handwoven products from prominent clusters of India and will also have a live demonstration of the charkha by Pitta Ramulu, National Awardee weaver. The charkha will be donated to the WTO after the event.

The India pavilion at the World Cotton Day exhibition is being curated and designed by NIFT, a pioneer institute of fashion education in India. The NIFT exhibition will be an immersive   experience that will bring out the beauty and soul of Indian textiles with its handspun and handwoven khadi. Fabrics which have been given Geographical Indication like Venkatagiri, Chanderi, Maheshwari and Ikkat sarees will be displayed along with many other traditional Indian textiles and organic cotton fabrics.

The World Cotton Day launch will give more than 30 countries exposure to producers, processors and businesses and more than 400 participants will be celebrating cotton in Geneva with thousands more around the world.

The World Cotton Day event is being organised by the World Trade Organisation (WTO) in collaboration with the Secretariats of the United Nations Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO), the United Nations Conference on Trade and Development (UNCTAD), the International Trade Centre (ITC) and the International Cotton Advisory Committee (ICAC).

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Fibre2Fashion News Desk (RKS)