by Zhao Xinhua

On October 20th， the 3-day Hybrid ITMF Annual Conference 2020 officially kicked off. This annual conference was jointly hosted by KOFOTI and ITMF. Due to the impact of the pandemic， the conference was held via live + virtual. The main venue was in Seoul， South Korea， and China， Brazil and Germany each set up a branch venue. The theme of this annual conference is：“The Corona-Pandemic： Re-shaping the Global Textile Supply Chain”.

Industry leaders， experts and scholars from various countries and regions， focusing on “Koreas Textile Industry”， “Management & Data”， “Fiber Session – Cotton + ManMade Fibers”， “Sustainability & Circular Economy”， “SLCP - Social & Labor Convergence Program”，“The Future of the Chinese Textile Industry”， “Fashion Industry Charter for Climate Action”， “Innovative & Technical Textiles” and “Collaboration” nine major topics for in-depth exchanges and discussions.

Sun Ruizhe， president of China National Textile and Apparel Council （CNTAC）， Wang Tiankai， former president of CNTAC， Duan Xiaoping， Yang Zhaohua， Sun Huaibin， vice presidents of CNTAC， and the heads of various departments and professional associations of CNTAC attended the opening session on October 20 in Beijing， China.

At the opening session， Kihak Sung， president of ITMF， delivered a speech. He pointed out that despite the Corona-pandemic， globalization is still of great significance to industrial development. Currently， investment and consumer markets have changed due to the impact of the pandemic， and the current dispute between China and the United States also means that free trade may come to an end. In his speech， Kihak Sung emphasized the digital upgrade of the industry， the overcapacity of polyester and the industrys response to environmental problems caused by future climate change， as well as the social responsibilities it should undertake.

On October 21， Sun Ruizhe， president of CNTAC， delivered a keynote speech titled “The future of the Chinese textile industry” at the conference； in the topic of sustainability and circular economy， Yan Yan， deputy director of China Textile Information Center， gave a speech on behalf of China with the theme of“Make fashion circular： outlook for a new textile economy in China”.

On October 22， Xu Yingxin， vice president of CNTAC， delivered a speech entitled “Chinas textile and apparel industry to the world： We are open and together” at the conference. The 3-day Hybrid ITMF Annual Conference 2020 has entered the final day of the agenda. At 5：00 p.m. （Beijing time）， the ITMF held the “ITMF Management Committee Meeting”. At the meeting， in accordance with the charter， the ITMF Management Committee formally elected and appointed the 2020 ITMF Board of Directors. Sun Ruizhe， president of CNTAC， was unanimously elected as the new president of ITMF， and Christine Schindler， the director general of ITMF， presided over the handover of presidency.