37 Indian companies are taking part in the annual Cairo Fashion and Tex Exhibition, held from 13th to 16th September at the Cairo International Convention Centre, in order to showcase Indian yarns and fabrics with the aim of further enhancing the cooperation between interested Egyptian businesspersons and Indian exhibitors within the textile sector, as well as strengthening trade between the two countries in general. In a press conference held on Tuesday, the Indian ambassador to Egypt, Sanjay Bhattacharya, said that this year's Indian exhibition will be lead by the Indian Synthetic and Rayon Textiles Export Promotion Council (SRTEPC), in cooperation with the Indian embassy in Egypt. The exhibition is expected to attract a number of Egyptian businesspersons who may be interested in the Indian textile products, resulting in fruitful discussions with them, and eventually creating win-win partnerships for effective business linkages in the near future. "Egypt and India enjoy very close and friendly relations, and both countries are very similar, which makes Indian products beneficial for the Egyptian market," Bhattacharya said. He added that not only does India play a vital role in the textile industry globally being the world's second largest textile supplier, but it also manufactures most of its textile machinery and hopes to benefit Egypt with them. The textile industry is worth $120bn in the Indian economy, and its exports are worth $40bn and are expected to reach $60bn by 2021, according to Bhattacharya. India exported nearly $240m worth of textiles and clothing products to Egypt in 2016. Man-made fiber textiles were one of the most important products in the export basket, valued at $97m, along with cotton valued at $131m, apparel valued at $2.32m, Jute valued at $4.4m and carpets valued at $0.36m. Additional Director of SRTEPC, Srijib Roy, said that India is able to supply its products to Egyptian buyers and traders at greatly attractive prices. "Our prices are very competitive. In fact, suppliers and importers discuss the prices together and importers decide the prices most suitable for them." He noted. This is the third time the Indian textile sector takes part in the Cairo Fashion and Tex Exhibition, and the second time SRTEPC takes part in the organization, according to Roy. Roy pointed out India exports 29% of its textile to the Middle East region, 25% to Asia, 20% to the European Union countries, 16% to North and South America and 10% to Africa. In conclusion of the conference, the Indian ambassador said that India is looking forward to expanding trade relations with Egypt. "We also encourage Egyptian businesspersons to participate in the textile exhibitions taking part in India." the ambassador said. Some of the companies participating in the exhibition include Saltex, Rishab Apparel, Krishna Knits, and EMBEE Exports. The companies offer a range of polyester, rayon, acrylic, cotton, silk, wool, and blended textiles in the exhibition, organized in a demarcated area called "India Pavilion". Egypt is one of India's most important trading partners in Africa, where the bilateral trade between both countries in 2016 reached $3.23bn. In addition, India is Egypt's 10th largest export destination as well as import source.
