The non-governmental association, initiated by individuals from China's clothing sector, selected Chen Jingwei, chairman of the board of the Jingwei Group, as its first president.

With a broad membership including entrepreneurs, fashion designers, renowned models and scholars, the association will serve as an advocate for China's textile and clothing enterprises.

In the immediate future, the association plans to make itself known to entrepreneurs of Chinese origin throughout the world, setup a company specializing in the import and export of textiles and establish a web site providing data banks on market information, fashion news, state-of-the-art spinning techniques and skilled professionals.

There are currently 70,000 textile and clothing enterprises in China, of which only two percent of clothing companies and 20 percent of spinning mills are state-owned or state-controlled.

(Xinhua News Agency November 19, 2002)