Textile and apparel event to open doors in Africa
05/11/2012
The fair, which will take place from April 9 to 12, 2013, at the Cape Town International Convention Centre, will provide regional and international buyers with an opportunity to explore Africa’s sourcing opportunities.
The event will feature African country pavilions, a matchmaking programme to introduce buyers to vendors, facilitated factory visits and a series of seminars highlighting investment opportunities in the region, addressing compliance issues and preferential trade access.
At a launch held to announce the event, Cynthia Brown, public diplomacy officer at the US Consulate General in Cape Town, said: “In the past decade, trade between Africa and the rest of the world has tripled, private foreign investment has surpassed official aid, and it will surely keep rising.
“Africa, as our business community is learning, now offers the highest rate of return on foreign direct investment of any developing region in the world. In fact, it’s the only developing region where the growth rate is expected to rise this year.”
Through the US’s African Growth and Opportunities Act, Africa’s textile and apparel sector has attracted major brands such as Levi’s, Wal-Mart, Gap, Old Navy, Victoria’s Secret, Target and Calvin Klein, creating around 300,000 jobs in an industry primarily staffed by women.
In Europe, the Everything But Arms system of trade preferences allows duty free, quota free access to products from many textile and apparel producing countries in sub-Saharan Africa, including Madagascar, Lesotho and Tanzania.
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