At its first meeting since the launch of 'Partenariat pour le Coton' at the 13th Ministerial Conference (MC13) in February, the commission welcomed two new partners—the International Atomic Energy Agency ( IAEA) and the International Labor Organization (ILO)— as its members.
'Partenariat pour le Coton', announced by WTO director general Ngozi Okonjo-Iweala and FIFA president Gianni Infantino on February 25, aims to strengthen the WTO-FIFA cotton partnership and support the participation of African countries into the cotton value chain.
The WTO-FIFA Cotton Initiative Steering Committee recently committed to intensify efforts to deliver concrete results for cotton-producing countries in Africa, such as Benin, Burkina Faso, Chad, Mali and the Cote d'Or. Ivoire. At its first meeting since the launch of 'Partenariat pour le Coton' in February, the committee welcomed the IAEA and ILO as new members.
A WTO communiqué said that meeting participants assessed the progress made to date and in particular assessed the work in West Africa of the CMIA, an internationally recognized standard for cotton. lasting.
They exchanged views on possible actions that will help promote future measures and investments in the production chain from cotton to textiles in West Africa and improve economic returns for the countries This.
The IAEA and ILO have provided an overview of how their areas of work can support and integrate into the scope of technical work analyzing the cotton sector in C4+ countries.
The next meeting is expected to take place in Cotonou, Benin in early June this year.
Fiber2 Fashion News Desk (DS)
