HANGZHOU, Sept. 21 (Xinhua) -- 2018 The First World Textile Merchandising Conference (2018 WTMC) kicked off at the Keqiao District, Shaoxing City of east China's Zhejiang Province on September 20.
Focusing on "Opening-up, Science & Technology, Fashion, Green Growth", the conference has seen participants share their ideas on the coordinated development of global textile fashion industry and transformation of China’s textile industry under the Belt and Road Initiative.
Shen Zhijiang, party secretary of Keqiao District, Shaoxing City, said that Keqiao District is an important gathering place of the global textile industry. Nearly a quarter of the world's textile products are traded in China Textile City which is located in the district, with an annual turnover of nearly 200 billion yuan.
“Textile industry boasts promising future in China. More countries will pay attention to the tremendous opportunities of the industry,” noted Jaswinder Bedi, chairman of the International Textile Manufacturers Federation (ITMF) (2016-2018) and the African Cotton and Textile Industries Federation (ACTIF), adding that China is expected to surpass Europe and the United States to become the largest retail market in the world by 2020.
According to Sun Ruizhe, president of China National Textile and Apparel Council (CNTAC), the transformation of China’s textile industry calls for upgrading of manufacturing so as to make it more intelligent, service-oriented and environmentally-friendly. In the meantime, efforts should be made to forge a professional and international industry cluster to enhance global cooperation.
During the conference, World Textile Merchandising Conference Council, consisting of 12 representatives from textile associations of countries like China, Egypt, Indonesia, Malaysia, France, Turkey, Vietnam, Cambodia and Laos, has been formally established, aiming to realize sustainable development of the textile industry. (Edited by Zhang Yuan, zhangyuan11@xinhua.org)
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