From October 23 to 25, the 2024 Sino-Africa International Symposium on Textiles and Apparel & Sino-Africa Cultural Exchange Forum was held in Casablanca, Morocco. This event was jointly organized by Donghua University(DHU) and the Ecole Supérieure des Industries du Textile et de l’Habillement (ESITH), with guidance from the United Nations Industrial Development Organization (UNIDO), the China Textile Industry Federation, and the Moroccan Textile and Apparel Industry Association.
The forum was themed “Circular Textiles, Greener Life,” aiming to promote cooperation in textile and apparel education and research between China and Africa, explore the potential for industry-university-research collaboration, and establish a platform for cultural exchange. Industrialization is a fundamental path to modernization, and historical experience shows that the development of the textile industry often leads the way in a country’s industrialization. DHU has played a significant role in supporting the growth of China’s textile and apparel industry over the past 70 years, emerging during the new China’s commitment to industrialization and modernization. In response to the Belt and Road Initiative, the university initiated the establishment of the World Textile University Alliance (WTUA), continuously promoting cooperation with countries along the route in areas such as textile higher education, technology research and development, personnel training, and cultural exchange.
DHU aims to use this forum as an opportunity to strengthen communication and cooperation with the Moroccan Textile and Apparel Industry Association and the Moroccan School of Textile and Clothing Industries, jointly facilitating capacity cooperation, technological innovation, and talent cultivation, and striving to take the lead in building a community with a shared future for China and Africa.
It is reported that in 2009, the China-Africa Cooperation Forum established the “China-Africa Higher Education Cooperation Plan,” known as the “20+20 Cooperation Plan.” Since 2011, DHU has been collaborating with African universities under this framework. In 2015, the first “China-Africa Textile and Apparel International Forum” was held at DHU, marking the beginning of a series of forums alternately hosted by DHU and African universities.
This year marks the first time the forum has been held in a North African country. Over the past decade, Chinese and African universities, enterprises, and research institutions have engaged in in-depth exchanges and cooperation through the forum. In May of this year, DHU was approved as a member university of the “China-Africa Hundred Schools Program” and the “China-Africa University Alliance Mechanism,” promoting cooperation with Africa in the field of digital education through its textile and apparel discipline. In September, as part of the activities accompanying the Beijing Summit of the China-Africa Cooperation Forum, DHU signed a tripartite agreement with the National Open University and the Open University of Kenya to establish the “China-Africa Digital Education Regional Cooperation Center.” DHU will continue to strengthen exchanges and cooperation with African universities, enhance cooperation in the textile and apparel sector through digital technology, and contribute to achieving green development and shared prosperity, thereby supporting the construction of a China-Africa community with a shared future.
