Fostering Thai-Vietnamese textile clothing cooperation

GFT 2015, the 19th edition of its kind, will be co-located with GMS, ASEAN’s sole exhibition of materials, accessories and equipment for garment and textile manufacturing, striving to respond to the needs of producers, from top to bottom, in the most comprehensive way.

According to Duangrat Udomsomporn, senior portfolio manager at Reed Tradex Company Limited, a leading exhibition organiser in Thailand, the event will be a special community platform where over 17,000 domestic and overseas industry professionals will discover the latest manufacturing technologies and solutions from 250 leading brands from 25 countries.

The event will display the latest versions of embroidery machinery, automatic cutting machines, digital printing technology as well as fresh innovation material, like the functional textile, aiming to bring inspiration, enhance the product added value and also to diversify product portfolios.

“Besides exhibiting technologies, the ASEAN Garment and Textile Summit and business matchmaking will allow exhibitors, visitors and business delegations to receive an exciting and in-depth perspective on the current and future trends of the industry,” said Udomsomporn.

He also stated he expects the special event would entail numerous business opportunities for Vietnam’s textile and garment industry.

Nguyen Van Tuan, deputy general secretary of the Vietnam Textile and Apparel
Association (VITAS) said that Thailand and Vietnam have a long relationship of cooperative textile and garment industries in terms of supplying materials and trading in finished products.

“For many years now, industrialists from both countries have been meeting and discussing trade and investment collaborations. The Vietnamese textile and garment industry is always on the lookout to improve competitiveness and achieve higher productivity to get the edge in the world market,” said Tuan.

Trade statistics indicate that Thai and Vietnamese textile and garment industries have constantly strengthening ties with each other.

“Such trade and investment collaboration will strengthen bilateral trade and investment as industrialists in both countries have developed close ties and form mutual collaboration to strengthen their area of business,” Tuan commented.

As special consideration for Vietnamese industrialists, participants coming in groups of 10 or more will be eligible for many incentives and promotional offers.

The Thailand Convention and Exhibition Bureau (TCEB) is offering a Connect Business Big Bonus incentive to groups of more than 10 visitors and those attending at least 30 assigned business-matching meetings during show days, to receive $100 per visitor.

Other incentives include complimentary two-night accommodation. Interested group leaders are invited to apply at least three weeks before the show date.

Moreover, a complimentary round-trip airline ticket is also offered for the head of a 10-strong delegation. The exhibition also features business matchmaking programmes, industry forums and factory tours.

Thai industrialists have a growing appetite to increase collaboration with their Vietnamese counterparts; for example, TGMA had sent business missions to Vietnam last August in Ho Chi Minh City and this year to Hanoi on March 23-24 and Ho Chi Minh City on March 25-26.

The upcoming GFT 2015 in Bangkok is expected to benefit the visitors in terms of knowledge and technology to boost business growth in the region.

In fact, the garment industry has been the largest contributor to Vietnam’s exports and is second only to China as a producer in the US market.

Statistics show that Asian production will surpass 60 per cent of world production by 2030. Therefore, the establishment of the ASEAN Economic Community (AEC), to be finalised hopefully by the end of this year, means a lot to Vietnam as it will open up further, uncharted markets within ASEAN member states.