政府新闻
研讨会促进纺织业内合作 2023-12-17
A symposium on textile and apparel opened last Thursday in Kenya's coastal city of Mombasa, providing a platform to boost cooperation in the textile and fashion industry between China and Kenya.
The Ninth Sino-African International Symposium on Textile and Apparel, hosted by Donghua University, formerly known as China Textile University, which is based in Shanghai, and Kenya's Moi University, coincided with the 60th anniversary of diplomatic relations between the two countries.
While making the opening remarks at the event, Isaac Kosgey, vice-chancellor of Moi University, said that the collaboration between the two institutions creates a sustainable and mutually beneficial relationship in the promotion of knowledge sharing, interdisciplinary research and cultural exchanges.
"Academics in Kenya and China need to pool resources through joint research ventures, knowledge exchange programs and sharing best practices through forums such as international conferences. This will assist in the advancement of the Belt and Road Initiative, of which Kenya and China are active members," Kosgey said.
Ren Wenwei, head of the Shanghai Office at the World Wildlife Fund, which collaborates with Donghua University to promote a greener textile industry, said that the symposium, which focuses on cooperation and people-to-people exchanges in the field of textiles and apparel, is a good example of South-South cooperation.
The textile and apparel industry is labor-intensive and plays an important role in providing jobs for many developing countries, but pollution caused by the industry has also become a problem for developing countries around the world, Ren said, adding that more international cooperation is needed for a greener textile and apparel industry.
Xiang Yanxun, deputy Party secretary of Donghua University, said the past eight editions of the symposium have achieved fruitful academic results, including more than 600 papers on various topics being published. The past events have attracted 30,000 participants from more than 30 countries, he said.
Li Wei, Donghua University's vice-president, said the symposium is one of the many initiatives successfully implemented through collaboration between the two universities.
This year's forum hosted the first China-Kenya creative cultural and art joint design competition.
The contest was an opportunity for Chinese and Kenyan young people to work together to create artworks that can be applied on Tshirts, sweaters or home textiles.
Li said the competition attracted 67 artworks from Kenyan contestants who were paired up with 65 Chinese students.
Source: China Daily
