The Hindu Business Line : Textile team to leave for China fair today

A 60-MEMBER delegation under the banner of the Chamber of Textile Trade & Industry (COTTI) is to leave on Wednesday for the Canton Fair in China. The objective is to utilise the post-WTO opportunities to strengthen mutual business prospects between the two countries, particularly in textiles. The delegation will be in China for a week.

The team, comprising leading traders and exporters, owners and co-owners and entrepreneurs, will also visit Shaoxing, known as the Manchester of China.

Members plan to look at the possibility of enhancing trade potential with Chinese textile companies, and also explore the scope for joint venture opportunities. The COTTI delegation will also showcase the vast potential of the textile sector in West Bengal.

Talking to newspersons here on Wednesday, the COTTI President, Mr Murari Lal Khaitan, claimed that it was the time in the country that such a big delegation from the domestic textile trade and industry was visiting China. The chamber plans to set up a liaison office in China to follow up on the business proposals and/or strengthen/develop newer business opportunities emerging out of the visit.

COTTI's International Trade Committee Chairman, Mr Pramod Modi, said one might see China as a threat to Indian textile exports because it produces in volumes at a competitive cost. Therefore, the delegation's objective would be to ascertain how the threat can be converted into an opportunity. Mr Modi said some members of the delegation may finalise deals to import certain varieties of low-cost quality fabrics for value-addition purposes. The fabrics would then be exported.

The chamber's Secretary, Mr Arun Bhuwalka, said local textiles traders transact business of over Rs 5,000 crore a year; the volume of exports from the city would be over Rs 250 crore a year. He said the chamber has approached the State government for some 25 acres of land within 25 km of the city to set up an integrated textile park. The proposed Rs 60-crore park would be a self-financed project. Once ready, itwould not only provide direct employment to 2,500 persons and a business of about Rs 200 crore a year, but it would also rejuvenate the State's moribund textile industry.

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