Cotton and textile industry play a significant role in Zimbabweans economic growth and development. The International Trade Centre (ITC) a joint agency of the World Trade Organisation (WTO) and United Nations (UN) has announced that Zimbabwe would be launching the Cotton-to-Clothing (C2C) Export Strategy at an indaba in Bulawayo next week.
The strategy is funded by the European Union (EU) under the EU-Africa partnership on cotton. The indaba will be held on September 26. The said strategy aims to revive the country’s cotton and textile industry since more than one million Zimbabweans, including farmers, ginners, and textile producers as well as their families depend on cotton for their day to day livelihoods, said ITC, which developed the strategy together with the ministry of industry and commerce.
The joint strategy is meant to promote the industry in eastern and southern Africa and intends to increase cotton lint production to 450, 000 tons per year. It also aims to increase exports of textiles and garments to $7.5 million by 2019. Mike Bimha, Zimbabwe’s Industry and Commerce minister, Dorothy Tembo, ITC’s deputy executive director and Sindiso Ngwenya, secretary-general of COMESA, will oversee the launch of the strategy at the Bulawayo Clothing Indaba.
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