Buyers from 19 countries attend Reverse Buyer Seller Meet for Textile and Apparel sector in Kolkata
Kolkata/IBNS: Rural artisans of West Bengal produce a wide range of artefacts that are good enough to draw international clientele but often fail to reach their target owing to lack of quality packaging, said Sadhan Pande, the state's Minister of Consumer Affairs Department.
He was addressing the participants present at the inaugural session of the Reverse Buyer Seller Meet for Textile and Apparel sector organised by the Indian Chamber of Commerce (ICC) under the aegis of the Union Ministry of Commerce & Industry, on Friday.
Buyers Seller meets can help artisans get the right price for their products, the minister said.
Organised in Kolkata for the first time, the three-day Meet attracted more than 50 foreign buyers from the textile and apparel sector from 19 countries, including Australia, Chile, China, Egypt, Jordan, Malaysia, Rwanda, Poland, Palestine, Myanmar, Morocco, Mauritius, Saudi Arabia, Senegal, Singapore, Sri Lanka, Tajikistan, Tanzania, Thailand, and UAE.
More than 125 sellers from India also participated in the Meet.
The event was organised to explore the strength and potentials for export of textile and apparel from eastern India.
The meet facilitated textile & apparel units from eastern India, which are mainly in the MSME segment, to interact with overseas buyers for sourcing, establishing marketing tie-ups and exploring business collaborations and joint venture agreements.
The welcome address was delivered by Vikash Agarwal, Sr. Vice President, ICC.
The programme was supported by the Government of Karnataka Government and nearly 20 SHGs supported by the Department of Self Help Group, Government of West Bengal.
Talking about Karnataka Textile Policy, Upendra Pratap Singh, IFS, the state's Commissioner for Textile and Director of Handlooms and Textiles, said that the new policy has potential to attract Rs 10,000 crore and provide employment opportunity of five lakh people.
He said many varieties of sarees have obtained Geographical Indication (GI) tag, such as Ilkal Sarees, Mysore Silk Sarees, Udupi Cotton Sarees and Karnataka Kasuti Sarees.
Sulton Rahimzoda, Ambassador of Republic of Tajikistan to India and Baraka Haran Luvanda, High Commissioner, United Republic of Tanzania were also present and talked about trade potential between their countries and India.
Chaitali Das, social entrepreneur and Mg. Trustee, Rakshak Foundation, talked about the benefit of using jute products.
Sanjay Jain, Chairman, ICC National Expert Committee on Textiles said that apparel industry in Bengal is presently supplying to domestic market because most of the units are MSME in nature.
Minister Sadhan Pande also inaugurated an exhibition where the concerned stakeholders had set up their stalls to display their products and talk about their activities.
Dr. Rajeev Singh, Director General, Indian Chamber of Commerce gave the formal Vote of Thanks.
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