Bangladesh Textile Mills Association (BTMA) and Bangladesh Cotton Association (BCA) will organise “Global Cotton Summit -Bangladesh 2015”. The global event will take place on 20-21 March at Hotel Radisson Blu Water Garden in the city. Minister for Textiles and Jute Emaz Uddin Pramanik will inaugurate the two-day summit. “The cotton summit will be helpful for the sector to build strong business relations with global business partners”, BTMA president Tapan Chowdhury said at a press conference on cotton summit at association office in the city Wednesday. He said the primary textile sector has been playing a vital role in the local readymade garment (RMG) sector. He said there are 407 spinning mills across the country where 5.5 million bails of cotton is consumed annually. Mr Chowdhury said now Bangladesh is the second largest cotton consumer and last year there was 65 per cent growth of cotton consumption. He said the local entrepreneurs could fulfil the total demand of spin but the industry owners cannot use their hundred per cent production capacity due to shortage of gas and electricity. He said: “We have a mission to hit the $50 billion mark in clothing exports by the 50th anniversary of the country’s independence in 2021”. He said to fulfill the $50 billion export target the sector needs to increase local yearn and fabric production. “In recent times, we have been struggling with the present political turmoil as we could not run our business smoothly”, president of BCA Muhammad Ayub said. He said this is the first time the Global Cotton Summit is being held in Bangladesh where the members of BTMA and BCA including Global cotton shippers, traders and merchants will take part. He said the delegation of the Indian Cotton Association Ltd, African Cotton Association, Karachi Cotton Association, Association Française Cotonnière (AFCOT) and other leading global organisations will also participate at the summit. He said 500 delegates from home and abroad including India, Poland, USA, Russia, Pakistan, China, UK, Missouri, Swaziland, Singapore, Hong Kong and France are expected to attend the summit
