International textile challenges need pan Euro-Mediterranean pole

A Pan Euro-Mediterranean pole around the European Union is the only viable strategic alternative to help this region angle out for a better position at the eve of the suppression in 2005 of the quotas system on the international textile trade, said here on Tuesday Morocco's Industry, Commerce and Telecommunications minister, Rachid Talbi Alami.

A substantial and rapid reduction of European customs duties will directly affect the preferential regime that benefits to many countries of the southern bank of the Mediterranean Sea, including Morocco, explained the Moroccan official in a speech before the conference convened here to probe the future of textile-clothing after 2005.

Like many countries of the region, Morocco's textile-clothing exports hit in 2001 up to 36 per cent of the whole manufacturing industry, noted the Moroccan official, adding that textile sector with its 1,600 enterprises is the Kingdom's number one employer (200,000) and exporter (2.8 billion euros).

The proximity of the European market and relatively short delivery deadlines are Morocco's comparative advantages which may well become obsolete after 2005, the Chairman of the Moroccan Association of Textile Industries and Clothing (AMITH) told MAP.

China, India and to a lesser degree Pakistan and Vietnam are will undoubtedly benefit from the dismantling of the quotas system, he went on.