Members of the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) are working to support the region's textile and garment industries and retain or boost competitiveness, says Trade Minister Mari Elka Pangestu.
Mari said on Wednesday that this commitment was the result of a recent meeting of ASEAN economic ministries in Cambodia, aimed at promoting the textile and garment industries in the region.
"One of the conclusions is that, we will concentrate on the textile and garment industries and on *efforts* we need to work on to boosting the industries in the region," she said at the State Palace after a meeting with President Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono and other ministers.
She said ASEAN governments would soon invite the ASEAN Federation of Textile Industries (Aftex) - the grouping of textile manufacturers in the region - to become partners to bring about this plan.
The meeting, held on Monday and Tuesday in Siem Reap, Cambodia, mainly discussed three issues - the ASEAN Economic Community, ASEAN external relations and the global economic context.
Alongside the ASEAN plan, the Indonesian Textile Association (API) deputy chairman Ade Sudrajat said earlier that Indonesia, Thailand and Vietnam - the region's top three producers - would set up a full-service alliance by the year-end.
The alliance, he said, was expected to boost the inter-regional textile and garment trade and cut buyers' costs by integrating orders from upstream to downstream products.
In the future, buyers would no longer need to open offices in countries where their orders were processed, which is what prevails at the moment, as all orders would be handled by the alliance, he said.
"At the moment, it will be a trial project. We cannot involve all (ASEAN) countries at once because we need garment and textile manufacturers and buyers to voluntarily try out this new system," said Ade.
"With the establishment of the alliance, Indonesia is targeting to raise its shares in the inter-regional textile and garment trade from 7 percent last year to 12 percent next year and then to 20 percent to 25 percent the following year," he added.
According to Ade, total textile and garment exports from the region stood last year at over US$30 billion, including $10.8 billion from Indonesia, $9.3 billion from Vietnam, about $8 billion from Thailand and $2.5 billion from Cambodia.
In response, Mari welcomed the planned establishment of the alliance, saying it could be part of the agenda at the next ASEAN economic ministries meeting.
"We will consider that *in our plan*. That's a good idea, I believe."
