New Delhi: The Ministry of Textiles is participating in the World Cotton Day being observed from 7th October to 11th October 2019 in Geneva. The World Trade Organisation (WTO) is organizing World Cotton Day event 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). Union Minister of Textiles, Smriti Irani, will participate in the plenary session of the event to be attended by heads of states, heads of international organisations and executives from the private sector.
WTO is hosting the event at the request of the Cotton – 4 countries, Benin, Burkina Faso, Chad and Mali to celebrate their official application for the recognition of 7th October as World Cotton Day by the United Nations. World Cotton Day will celebrate the many advantages of cotton, from its qualities as a natural fibre, to the benefits people obtain from its production, transformation, trade and consumption. World Cotton Day will also serve to shed light on the challenges faced by cotton economies around the world because cotton is important to least developed, developing and developed economies worldwide.
The objective of observing October, 7 as World Cotton Day is to give exposure and recognition to cotton and all its stakeholders in production, transformation and trade; to engage donors and beneficiaries and strengthen development assistance for cotton; seek new collaborations with the private sector and investors for the cotton related industries and production in developing countries and promote technological advances, as well as further research and development on cotton.
The World Cotton Day launch event in Geneva on October 7th is an opportunity for members, the private sector and the international development community to share knowledge and showcase cotton related activities and products.
A cotton exhibition is also being held where 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 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.
A sculpture of Mahatma Gandhi made out of cotton will be displayed to commemorate the 150th birth anniversary of Gandhi.
The Cotton Textiles Export Promotion Council (TEXPROCIL) will be displaying India’s high-quality cotton textiles at the exhibition.
Between 2011 and 2018, India implemented a Cotton Technical Assistance Programme (Cotton TAP-I) of about USD 2.85 million for seven African countries namely Benin, Burkina Faso, Mali and Chad and also Uganda, Malawi and Nigeria. The technical assistance focused on improving the competitiveness of the cotton and cotton-based textiles and apparel industry in these countries through a series of interventions which had significant outcomes leading to a demand for a follow on project.
