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The Ministry of Textiles will host the 81st plenary meeting of the International Cotton Advisory Committee (ICAC) in Mumbai from December 2-5 which is likely to be attended by over 400 delegates from 35 countries.

“It is a matter of honour and pride for India to host this event after nearly 8 years,” the Ministry of Textiles said on Wednesday.

The four-day conference to be inaugurated by Union Minister of Textiles and Commerce & Industry Piyush Goyal will be attended by government representatives from various cotton growing and consuming countries/ regions, reputed industrialists, important business delegates, eminent scientists, and researchers.

The ICAC is an inter-governmental body covering cotton that is recognised by the United Nations. Formed in 1939, it has 28 member countries at present. India, along with Brazil, Egypt, France, Sudan, and the US, is one of the founder members of this forum. In addition, other countries which are not ICAC members are also participating in the conference.

The previous event was hosted by India in 2015 with the theme "From Farm to Fabric: The Many Faces of Cotton" focusing on value addition. Moving forward the conference will take the agenda from economics to ecology. This is also the 5th time that the ICAC Plenary Meeting is being held in India in the last 6 decades.

The Plenary Meetings of the ICAC provide a forum for discussions on international issues of importance to the World Cotton industry, and provides an opportunity for the industry and the government leaders from cotton producing, consuming and trading countries to deliberate on matters of mutual concern. The ICAC Plenary is also very important for promotion of trade, industry, and culture.

The theme of this plenary meeting is “Cotton Value Chain: Local Innovations for Global prosperity”. The 81st Plenary aims to serve as a platform for sharing innovations, benchmarks, good practices and experiences across the globe on productivity, climate resilience and circularity for a vibrant cotton economy. Focus is on local innovations and cutting edge technologies for sustainability developed locally but have global implications and potential for the prosperity of the cotton value chain touching the livelihoods of millions engaged in production, processing, trade, fashion and textile industry.

This Plenary Meeting encompasses a broad range of topics around cotton, including technologies to increase productivity, climate-smart Innovations as game changers for cotton production, recent impactful technological advances, Industry 4.0 for textiles: smart manufacturing in textiles.

The collective effort would be to bring best practices and resources together for sustainability of enterprises while contributing positively to One People and One Planet.

The event will give India a unique opportunity to showcase the strength, growth and resilience of the cotton based textile industry in India, share case studies, success stories and inventive steps of small and marginal farmers; highlight local initiatives for enhancing productivity, sustainability through Carbon sequestration.

India’s launch of ‘Kasturi Cotton Bharat’ brand marks the country’s foray in providing complete end-to-end traceability and transparency solutions using Blockchain technology across the cotton textile value chain to deliver softer, stronger and purer cotton. Advancing good agricultural practices will provide fair economic benefits for farmers, encouraging circularity in the local economy and building the foundation of sustainable living for future generations.

Recent breakthroughs; pest management strategies, advancements in water management for Cotton and Textile Value chain; quality assurance and traceability; harmonising the certification regimes, cotton by-products, herald the launch of the Indian brand of Kasturi cotton to the world, importance of price discovery mechanisms, arbitrations for Cotton trade; fostering Entrepreneurship in support services , impact of digital revolution and contribution to process as well as product on farm for higher value creation will also figure.

Meanwhile, India is also gearing up to host the world's largest textile exposition, Bharat Tex 2024, scheduled to take place from February 26 to 29, 2024, in the International Exhibition cum Convention Centre (IECC) at Pragati Maidan in Delhi.