ACIMIT opens new technology training centre in Vietnam

This past 29 November, the Italian training centre for textile machinery opened in Ho Chi Minh City (Vietnam), at the Ho Chi Minh City University of Technology (HCMUT). ACIMIT President Alessandro Zucchi commented, “The training centre provides a further opportunity to consolidate the presence of Italy’s textile machinery sector in this emerging market.”

Following the signing of an agreement between the project’s main partners, the Italian Trade Agency and HCMUT (Ho Chi Minh City University of Technology), the inauguration ceremony of the Italian technology training centre for textile machinery in Vietnam was held in April 2016, with the participation, amongst others, of Alessandro Zucchi and Raffaella Carabelli, respectively president and past president of ACIMIT, the Association of Italian Textile Machinery Manufacturers, partners in the project together with PISIE (International Polytechnic Institute for Industrial and Economic Development).

Financed by the Ministry for Economic Development, as part of the Extraordinary Program for the promotion of Made in Italy – Country Project Vietnam, the project intends to support the development of the local textile industry through the realization of a technology centre, specifically for the production of men’s socks and hosiery, outfitted with a complete line of Italian machinery and equipment. Notable participants in the project were the following Italian machinery manufacturers: BELLINI, FADIS, GAVAZZI, LAWER, LONATI and MESDAN.

The inauguration ceremony for the training centre unfolded within the context of the Business Mission in Vietnam, held in Hanoi and Ho Chi Minh City from 27 to 29 November, and included the presence of the Italian Vice Ministry of Economic Development Ivan Scalfarotto, as well as Madame Ambassador Cecilia Piccioni and the President of the Italian Trade Agency Michele Scannavini.

“With the start of operations for the training centre,” states ACIMIT President Alessandro Zucchi, “our sector lays the groundwork for further business opportunities in an emerging market for the entire global textile machinery industry.” Indeed, the Vietnamese market represents the 8th largest destination for Italian exports, with a total of 49 million euros in machinery exported in 2016, and a 53% increase over the first six months of 2017 compared to the same period for 2016. Textile machinery by far constitute the primary export sector to Vietnam among the various machinery types represented in FEDERMACCHINE, the national federation of associations of manufacturers of capital goods.

As commented past ACIMIT president Raffaella Carabelli, under whose guidance the project was initiated, “I’m certain that the initiative will prove an excellent vehicle in promoting the image not only of individual Italian manufacturers who are participating by supplying machinery, but on Italy’s textile machinery industry as a whole.”