An institutional and commercial mission of Italian textile machinery manufacturers took place from 4 to 8 November in Kenya and Tanzania. The initiative’s organizers, Italian Trade Agency and ACIMIT, the Association of Italian Textile Machinery Manufacturers, wanted to strengthen contacts between the Italian textile machinery industry and the textile sector in these two African Countries.
The world’s textile and garment sector is closely watching manufacturing Countries in Sub-Saharan Africa, an area that is emerging as a manufacturing hub for the industry, firstly for obvious reasons relating to production costs, but also for the incentives offered by local governments. Consequently, investments in machinery are also increasing and Italian manufacturers do not want to be caught unprepared in this growth scenario.
“Following several promotional initiatives focusing on Ethiopia over the past few years,” explains ACIMIT President Alessandro Zucchi, “together with the Italian Trade Agency, we’ve decided to explore the business opportunities in Kenya and Tanzania, two Countries whose respective Governments are currently promoting the development of their textile and garment industry.”
Kenya, in particular, is an especially interesting market for textile machinery manufacturers. Indeed, the development programme known as Vision 2030 put forward by the local authorities places the textile sector among the primary beneficiaries of the incentives made available by the Government, in addition to providing Kenyan manufacturers with access to the US market, thanks to AGOA (the African Growth and Opportunity Act), which has boosted the Country’s exports.
