Smriti Irani to represent India at World Cotton Day celebrations in Geneva
NEW DELHI: Union Textiles Minister Smriti Irani will participate in the plenary session of the World Cotton Day celebrations in Geneva, which will shed light on the challenges faced by cotton economies.
The plenary session will be attended by heads of states, heads of international organisations and executives from the private sector.
The World Trade Organisation (WTO) is hosting the event at the request of Cotton - 4 countries, Benin, Burkina Faso, Chad and Mali, to celebrate their official application for recognition of October 7 as World Cotton Day by the United Nations.
"The Ministry of Textiles, Government of India, is participating in the World Cotton Day being observed from October 7 to 11 in Geneva," an official statement said.
"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," it said.
The objective of observing World Cotton Day is to provide 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 private sector and investors for cotton related industries and production in developing countries and promote technological advances, as well as further research and development on cotton.
The Cotton Corporation of India will display various grades of raw cotton, including SUVIN, the finest quality of extra long staple cotton produced in Tamil Nadu, having the highest fibre length.
WTO is organising World Cotton Day event in collaboration with the Secretariats of the United Nations Food and Agriculture Organisation, the United Nations Conference on Trade and Development, the International Trade Centre and the International Cotton Advisory Committee.
A sculpture of Mahatma Gandhi made out of cotton will be displayed to commemorate his 150th birth anniversary, the statement said. 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 competitiveness of 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.