| Project Detail |
The Egyptian cotton is among the finest and most lustrous varieties and the highest quality fibre. Egypt’s textile industry has historically been considered of paramount importance to the country and its economy. Nonetheless, Egypt still plays a marginal role in the global textile value chain as its textile industry is highly fragmented and its textile products do not meet the needs of the international market. The industry suffers from lack of innovation, high input prices, limited skilled labour, and scarce sustainable agricultural practices.The proposed project aims at enhancing the sustainability, inclusiveness and value addition of the long-staple and extra-long staple Egyptian cotton value chain, by improving the economic, social and environmental performance of cotton growers and cotton processors, and strengthening support institutions.The project will capitalize UNIDO well established expertise on the value chain approach in Egypt and focus on the promotion of organic and non-contaminated cotton and local value addition (local content and processing), support resource efficient cotton processing, foster B2B linkages in the textile value chain, promote scientific research in the field of cotton, improve its quality, foster innovation in the textile sector, enhance the technical and entrepreneurial skills of Egyptian young women and men.The proposed project will leverage Filmars CSR ongoing Cottonforlife initiative, co-funded by Alexbank of Intesa San Paolo Group, and capitalize on its lessons learned, while scaling it up to upgrade the whole value chain, reach out to a larger number of producers and exporters, and build the capacities of the institutions involved. This is in line with UNIDO’s efforts to actively engage the private sector (CSR, investors, partners, mentors, etc.), develop business partnerships, leverage non-traditional funding, and unleash the private sector’s potential as driver of inclusive and sustainable industrialization |
