Jean de Jaegher: strong in conviction.

At a briefing in Brussels this month, European clothing and textile chief Jean de Jaegher expected to give and receive no quarter after China accedes to the WTO. De Jaegher, who runs textile and clothing giants Marzotto and Hugo Boss and is president of industry organisation Euratex, said he favours no quotas, duties or other barriers to trade: "of course, this would mean that strong exporters such as Greater China and India would increase their sales to Europe. No problem. Europe would then also sell a lot more to these countries."

However, that is de Jaegher at his more laconic. At greater length, he complained that the current buzzword "globalisation" does not yet apply to textiles and clothing. "Today there is purely and simply no world market for textiles. A cursory glance at customs duties, whether bound or applied, demonstrates this. Much of the Asian and South American market is simply closed to imports. You have only to look at the tariff levels applied by some of our major suppliers to see what I am getting at."

De Jaegher viewed the forthcoming WTO meeting in Doha, Qatar in November as an opportunity to press the case for markets to open wider to European textiles and clothing exports. He intends to press the case, he indicated, since the EU runs a balance of payments surplus in textiles and clothing with all developed countries.

At the same briefing, William Lakin, Euratex's Director General, insisted that the EU shopping list in Doha would include:

• a reduction of all textile and clothing tariffs to 15% and below
  
• a ban on all forms of restrictive non-tariff barrier
  
• a new negotiating round to confirm protection of textile and clothing models and designs

Lakin: shopping list of demands.

De Jaegher however expects European imports of clothing and textiles to increase when the Agreement on Textiles and Clothing expires on 31 December 2004. According to Euratex, China and India will benefit the most from the dismantling of the agreement. And officials believe they will see increased price pressure on categories such as cotton and cotton-blend fabrics and yarns, T-shirts, sweaters, men's trousers, women's blouses and men's shorts.

Michèle Anselme, the Secretary-General of Eurocoton (the European cotton industry association) who, in the past, won many anti-dumping battles, has recently been sharpening her sword, preparing legal texts for Unice, the EU industry secretariat. She appears to be making ready for putting the case for the European cotton industry strongly in the lead up to Doha and its implementations.

Fundamental optimism for the future

Pondering a global future.

De Jaegher remains fundamentally optimistic about the industry's outlook. He explains why: "There was no visible impact of the 11th September [terrorist attack on the US] on apparel retail sales in Europe. As September was a rather cold month, sales were even better than last year, except in the big cities.

"I predict without hesitation a bright future for our industry. For we have a proven capacity to compete effectively around the world. Once markets start to open, our exports will rapidly climb; for example we increased exports over the period 1999 to 2000 to China (up 49%) and South Korea (up 59%)."

De Jaegher warmly welcomed the forthcoming accession of China to the WTO: "our principal competitor but potentially also our principal customer". He thinks that China's accession not only will guarantee a better access to the huge Chinese market, but that it will also act as a counterweight to India. "India has some 60 million consumers with a purchasing power equal to or in excess of the EU average. This potential can only be tapped if India agrees to open its market."

Pan Euro-Mediterranean area could work

A market of 700 million in Europe.

The Euratex chief also hailed the ambitious plan of the EU to create the equivalent of a free trade area similar to NAFTA, called the Pan Euro-Mediterranean area, with 700 million consumers. De Jaegher said: "The EU textile and clothing industry already has close links in this area, in which over 7 million textile and clothing workers are employed (of which 2.2 million are in the EU and 1.9 million are in Turkey). The human and technological potential of this area is enormous."

He believed that Turkey contains some of the world's best technicians and that the town of Izmir alone has two textile universities. Taking into account increasing expenses of freight and the increasing importance of quick delivery, low wage countries within the Pan Euro-Mediterranean area will have a competitive advantage against traditional Far East suppliers," he added.

Each area has competing strengths.

Would the creation of the Pan Euro-Mediterranean area make imports of textiles and clothing from Asia largely superfluous? De Jaegher believed not. "I think that four major textile and clothing blocs are developing: the NAFTA-area (plus also the Caribbean Basin and even Mercosur), the Pan Euro-Mediterranean area, Greater China and the Indian subcontinent," he said.

"Each will have its specific competitive strengths, by virtue of which trade among these blocs will continue to develop. This will be, however, a dynamic process, also in qualitative terms. It is not unthinkable that, say, within 15 years, Greater China will no longer be a supplier of mainly basic articles to Europe, but a real competitor to Italy in the world of fashion."

from special correspondent Jozef de Coster, Brussels