On 25 August 2017, the 2017 Belt and Road Forum for Textile and Garment Industry Development was held in Urumqi. The Forum was themed on “Innovation for Sustainable Development, Collaboration for Win-Win Future”. About 400 participants including Mr. Liang Yong, Deputy Secretary-General of People’s Government of Xinjiang Uygur Autonomous Region, Mr. Gao Yong, Secretary-General of China National Textile and Apparel Council, Ms. Cao Xuejun, Deputy Director-General of Consumer Goods Department of the Ministry of Industry and Information Technology of China, Mr. Chong Yew Chee, Chairman of Malaysia Promas International Business Society and Dr. Christian P. Schindler, Director General of International Textile Manufacturers Federation attended the Forum. H.E. Mme. Yang Xiuping, Secretary-General of ASEAN-China Centre (ACC) attended the Forum and delivered a speech upon invitation.
Deputy Secretary-General Liang Yong said in his remarks that at present, the textile and garment industry has become the highlight of Xinjiang’s economy and one of the main channels of employment. From January 2014 to July 2017 in Xinjiang Uygur Autonomous Region, the investment in fixed assets in textile industry amounted to 120.73 billion RMB, the number of textile and garment enterprises reached 2,525, and there were 280,000 newly increased jobs in the industry. As the Belt and Road Initiative progressed steadily, the global layout of the textile industry is being adjusted and upgraded. Xinjiang, as the core area of the Silk Road Economic Belt, has unique advantages in location, resources and policies. He welcomed friends from China and all around the world to invest in Xinjiang, and make joint efforts in promoting cooperation and integration of textile industry at a larger scope and higher level.
Secretary-General Gao Yong introduced the overall situation of China’s textile and garment industry. He said that the Chinese government attaches great importance to the development of textile industry, made great efforts on stabilizing the industrial base, promoting brand building and fostering new kinetic energy. In the first half of this year, the main production indexes have been steadily improving, and the output has increased steadily. Fixed asset investment reached 613 billion RMB, increased by 9.1% compared with the previous year. The Chinese government issued a series of policies to boost the development of textile industry, and therefore injected new impetus to the industry. He hoped the parties could take this Forum as an opportunity, to push the textile industry in the Belt and Road countries to develop in a coordinated way, and achieve win-win results.
Secretary-General Yang Xiuping said in her remarks that the textile and garment industry has a direct bearing on people’s well being. China and most ASEAN countries are big textile producers. The textile industries in China and ASEAN countries are complementary to each other and have great potential for cooperation. Since the establishment of the ASEAN-China FTA, ASEAN has become one of the fastest growing areas of China's textile exports, while China's demand for textile imports from ASEAN countries is also on the rise. The cooperation potential remains to be further explored. She made three suggestions on promoting ASEAN-China textile cooperation: First, the government sectors of both sides should further promote the policies of the Belt and Road Initiative and the upgraded ACFTA, to make more enterprises know and benefit from these polices, so as to strengthen the internal motives for cooperation. Second, the textile business associations of both sides should enhance their accurate matching, sort out each other’s demands and leverage their own strengths so as to realize industrial upgrading and win-win results. Third, the enterprises of both sides should make good use of industrial parks and e-commerce platforms and explore new ways to expand cooperation in line with the unique features of each country.
The participants had in-depth discussions on the development of global textile industry, the building of Belt and Road and the opportunities it brought about to the textile industry and other topics.
Before the Forum, Secretary-General Yang Xiuping met with main guests of the Forum, and exchanged views on several topics ranging from strengthening textile, garment cooperation among the Belt and Road countries to promoting the coordinated development of regional economy.