Israel strategic market for Indian apparel exporters: AEPC

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SME Times News Bureau | 27 Nov, 2013
Israel is a strategic market for Indian apparel exporters as it is the only country in the world that has Free Trade Agreements (FTAs) with both the US and EU, said Dr. A Sakthivel, Chairman Apparel Export Promotion Council (AEPC).

"Israel is the only country in the world that has FTAs with both the U.S. and the EU, making it a bridge between the continents. By virtue of the North American Free Trade Area agreement (NAFTA), Israel also enjoys duty-free access to Canada and Mexico. This agreement, together with the Israel-Mexico FTA, allows Israel duty-free access to practically all of North America. Israel also has FTAs with Jordan, Egypt, Turkey and the Palestinian Authority. Therefore, it was in our strategic interest to enter the Israel market," said AEPC chief on Wednesday in Gurgaon after the conclusion of the Buyer Seller Meet (BSM) in Tel Aviv, Israel.

After the successful organization of the Buyer Seller Meet (BSM) by AEPC, at in Tel Aviv, last year, the Council is once again organized Buyer Seller Meet in Tel Aviv, Israel from 25-26 November, 2013.

The BSM was inaugurated by Jaideep Sarkar, Ambassador of India to Israel along with Ramzi Gabbay, Chairman of Israel export and international corporation institute in presence of Vani Rao, DCM, Embassy of India, Israel, Gautam Nair, Executive Committee Member, Lalit Thukral, Executive Committee Member AEPC, along with the participant, buyers and all exhibitors.

Chairman AEPC, Dr. A Sakthivel, in his statement stated that, "The 2nd BSM at Tel Aviv was very successful- participants got good business and many international buyers from Israel and Palestine visited the show. This show was organized once again with the objective to capture not only the Israel apparel market but also USD 11 billion apparel market of Middle East region."

He informed that, the total number of buyers visiting the BSM was 275. It was happy to note that that out of the total buyers, 32 buyers were from Palestine. Syed Mubarak of embassy of India, Palestine visited along with business delegation of 32 buyers from Palestine. The delegation members were dealing in garments, furniture, fabrics and home furnishing. The few important brands like Fox, H&O, Delta Galil, Cotton, Honigman, Gertrud, etc also came to source garments from Indian participants.

It has also been observed that Israel/ Palestine market has enough potential. The people have good purchasing power also. It has also been gathered from the visitors/ buyers that they are looking for good potential suppliers of readymade garments. Moreover India enjoys a cordial relations and strong bilateral relations with Israel, Chairman AEPC

Dr Sakthivel said, "Last year participation in Israel generated business to the tune of USD 25.21 lacs, which is I am sure will improve this year. Our quest for exploring new markets has paid us well and we will be continuing this in future too. AEPC has planned 13 participation across the world for the next year; with the help of adequate Government support we would be meeting the target of 17 billion for the current fiscal."

It is noteworthy that garment exports recorded the jump of 31 percent for the month of October 2013.