Bilateral collaboration and technical exchanges between United States and India in technical textiles are planned as a part of the United States and India strategic and commercial cooperation. The US Secretary of State John Kerry and US Commerce Secretary, Penny Pritzker welcomed India´s External Affairs Minister, Sushma Swaraj and Minister of State for Commerce and Industry, Nirmala Sitharaman for the first US-India commercial dialogue held recently in Washington DC. During this summit, strategic initiatives between the two countries in the field of technical textiles were agreed.
The following is the broad framework of the agreement:
1. United States and India will help with exchanges between US academia and Centres of Excellence in technical textiles in India. Indian government has established eight centres for growing the field of technical textiles.
2.The two countries will participate in trade expositions related to technical textiles such as Technotex expo sponsored by Government of India.
3. Both countries will collaborate in standards development for technical textiles products, and
4. Address barriers towards technical textile exports between the two countries.
According to the US Department of Commerce, there are over 2 million annual visits between the two countries that showcase strong bilateral cooperation.
Personally, this scribe has been engaged in many bilateral initiatives between India and the United States for over a decade in the field of nonwovens and technical textiles and has provided international platforms at different places in India for the industry and academia by organizing the international conference, ´Advances in Textiles, Nonwovens and Technical Textiles (ATNT).´ Industry associations such INDA, TAPPI-NET Division and IFAI have supported the events and have helped with awareness creation and promotion of technical textiles in India.
By: Seshadri Ramkumar, Texas Tech University, USU