The “Partenariat pour le Coton” was unveiled by WTO Director-General Ngozi Okonjo-Iweala and FIFA President Gianni Infantino on 25 February. The initiative aims to strengthen the WTO-FIFA cotton partnership and support African countries' participation in cotton value chains. The launch marked a milestone in the partnership following the signing of the WTO-FIFA Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) in 2022.

Participants in the Steering Committee meeting included representatives from FIFA, the WTO, IAEA, ILO, African Export-Import Bank (Afrieximbank), Better Cotton Initiative (BCI), CMIA, International Cotton Advisory Committee (ICAC), International Trade Centre (ITC), and the United Nations Industrial Development Organization (UNIDO). Officials from the C4 plus countries were also present.

Participants pledged to build on the good momentum achieved with the launch of the Partenariat pour le Coton and to enhance multi-agency collaboration. They took stock of the progress made thus far and, in particular, assessed the work in West Africa by CMIA, an internationally recognized standard for sustainable cotton.

They exchanged views on possible actions that would help drive future measures and investment in the cotton-to-textile production chains in Western Africa and improve economic returns for these countries. The two new partners, IAEA and ILO, provided an overview of how their areas of work can support and be integrated into the scope of the technical work for an analysis of the cotton sector in the C4 plus countries.

Ambassador Stephen Fevrier, Senior Advisor to the WTO Director-General, commended the Steering Committee's commitment to supporting African cotton-producing countries in their efforts to move up the cotton-to-textile value chains. Looking forward, he called on the Committee to redouble efforts to raise awareness and garner additional support from stakeholders for the Partenariat pour le Coton.

The next Steering Committee meeting is scheduled to take place in Cotonou, Benin, in early June 2024.

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A dedicated webpage for the Partenariat pour le Coton will soon be launched on the WTO website.

The video of the Partenariat pour le Coton launch event is available here.

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