She said it was crucial for Indian firms to collaborate with textile companies in Ghana to take advantage of the numerous programmes introduced by the government to industrialise the country — the One District, One Factory (1D1F).

“There should be a strong collaboration between the two countries to help develop the textile industry in Ghana,” Ms Asare said at a press conference organised by India ITME Society last Thursday in Accra.

She said stated that during the launch of the non-traditional export statistics, it was realised that the textile manufacturing industry did not play a huge role as was expected and, therefore, there was the need to do more to improve the export of textiles from the country.

She GEPA was working around the clock to resolve the issues of piracy among other challenges facing the Ghanaian textile industry to make the sector attractive.

Ms Asare asked as many Ghanaian companies in the sector as possible that could attend the ITME exhibition in Ethiopia next year, dubbed ITME Africa 2020, to do so without hesitation.

ITME Africa 2020

Speaking at the launch of the international event, the Chairman of the India ITME Society, Mr S. Hari Shankar, said the Society played a pivotal role in strengthening the domestic as well as international textile industry by facilitating the exchange of knowledge and technology transfer.

“ITME Africa 2020 is deemed to be more than a routine exhibition. It proposes to bring to the table complete solutions to textile industry development on the continent through affordable technology, international exposure and skill development through seminars and conferences, confluence of business houses, investment opportunities, joint ventures, access to finance and networking platforms with technocrats and educational institutes.

Overall, he said it paved the way for a wave of knowledge, progress, growth and prosperity, adding that “ITME Africa 2020 is a must participate event, especially in today’s highly competitive environment,” Mr Shankar noted.

When

ITME Africa 2020 is scheduled for February 14-16, 2020 and December 10-15, 2020 at the Millennium Hall, Addis Ababa, Ethiopia and IEML, Greater Noida, India, respectively.

The exhibition is expected to focus on business opportunities in the textile sector across the entire Africa initialising technological revolution for textile industry, thereby creating new market opportunities for the textile and textile engineering industry.

It is expected to attract 220 exhibitors with country pavilions from India, China, Italy, Switzerland, Turkey and participation from additional countries including South Africa, United Kingdom, Austria, Belgium, Egypt, Ethiopia and Ghana.

Other activities

Other activities planned concurrently during the exhibition are business to business (B2B) meetings, technical and investment seminars and business financial solution seminar.