TEXTILES.ORG
Former United Nations Secretary-General Kofi Annan will be a keynote speaker at the first ITMA-ITMF World Textile Summit, scheduled to take place in Barcelona, Spain, on September 21, 2011.
The Summit is a one-day event, bringing together textile industry leaders and some of the world’s most influential thinkers and policy makers in strategically important fields such as economics, trade, technology and sustainability. An inspirational, forward-looking agenda, comprising expert presentations and interactive panel discussions, is designed to offer a global perspective on the opportunities and challenges that face the textile industry in the years ahead, and providing delegates with new ideas to maintain their success in the textile manufacturing and supply chain.
Having championed the importance of economic, social and environmental sustainability throughout his career at the U.N., Annan is now an advocate for the Global Compact—challenging business to take the initiative in sustainable development. As a speaker, he reiterates the responsibility of businesses and individuals to address environmental challenges; to undertake initiatives to promote greater environmental responsibility; to protect human rights and to encourage the development and transfer of environmentally sustainable technologies.
Some of the world’s major textile and apparel companies are participants in the Global Compact, described as a leadership initiative involving action at the CEO level. Participation is intended as a widely visible commitment to the implementation, disclosure and promotion of the Compact’s 10 universal principles in the realm of human rights, labour, environment and anti-corruption.
Annan is also a member of the board of the United Nations Foundation; chairman of the Alliance for a Green Revolution in Africa; the Africa Progress Panel, a Global Fellow at Columbia University and Li Ka Shing Professor at the Lee Kuan Yew School of Public Policy, Singapore.
The World Textile Summit will take place on September 21 at the Palau de Congressos de Catalunya in Barcelona, one day ahead of the opening of the ITMA 2011 textile-machinery show in the same city. It is the first joint initiative between CEMATEX (the European Committee of Textile Machinery Manufacturers) and the International Textile Manufacturers Federation (ITMF), and is being organized in partnership with the World Textile Information Network (WTiN) and international event organiser MP International.
IFAI’s fourth Advanced Textiles Europe conference will also be held in conjunction with ITMA in Barcelona, Spain, Sept. 26–27. The conference is a unique European/U.S. platform on the future of technical textile applications, providing global networking and marketplace opportunities. For information, e-mail Kristy Meade, IFAI director of education and events, klmeade@ifai.com.