One of the most powerful men in Chinese textiles, Du Yuzhou, president of China National Textile & Apparel Council (CNTAC), is to address international industry leaders at the ITMA-ITMF World Textile Summit later this year.

Mr Du is one of a trio of speakers newly announced by the organisers of the summit, which will take place in Barcelona, Spain, on September 21. He will outline China’s strategic ambitions for its textile industry and report on progress in its extensive modernisation programme.

According to organisers, the challenge of technological change and the drive for product innovation will be among the themes explored by both Loek de Vries, president and CEO of the technical-textile leader TenCate, and Thomas Babacan, CEO of the world’s biggest textile-machinery manufacturer, Oerlikon Textile, and COO of the OC Oerlikon Group.

TenCate, with an annual turnover of more than €1 billion, is a Dutch-based multinational with extensive interests in advanced textiles, composites, geosynthetics and artificial turf. Oerlikon Textile, part of the Swiss-based Oerlikon Group, has a turnover of €2 billion, making spinning, embroidery and nonwovens machinery through its Oerlikon Schlafhorst, Oerlikon Saurer, Oerlikon Barmag, Oerlikon Neumag and Oerlikon Textile Components business units.

Last year former United Nations secretary-general Kofi Annan – now an international advocate for sustainable business practice – was revealed as one of the Summit’s keynote speakers.

The ITMA-ITMF World Textile Summit is a one-day event, bringing together textile-industry leaders and some of the world’s most influential thinkers and policymakers in strategically important fields such as economics, trade, technology and sustainability. It sets out to deliver an inspirational, forward-looking agenda, comprising expert presentations and interactive panel discussions, designed to offer a global perspective on the opportunities and challenges that face the textile industry in the years ahead, and providing delegates with new ideas to maintain their success in the textile manufacturing and supply chain.

The summit will take place at the Palau de Congressos de Catalunya in Barcelona, one day ahead of the opening of the ITMA 2011 textile-machinery show in the same city. It is the first joint initiative between CEMATEX (the European Committee of Textile Machinery Manufacturers) and the International Textile Manufacturers Federation (ITMF), and is being organised in partnership with the World Textile Information Network (WTiN) and international event organiser MP International. Oerlikon Textile is the Summit’s Platinum Sponsor.

www.worldtextilesummit.com