Customers visit the Viet Nam Textile and Garment exhibition, which opened in HCM City yesterday. ­— VNA/VNS Photo An Hieu

HCM CITY (Biz Hub) — The Viet Nam Textile and Garment exhibition, which opened in HCM City yesterday, has attracted 125 local and foreign companies who are showcasing their products and services.

Firms from Taiwan, Hong Kong, India, Korea, Malaysia, Thailand, and Turkey have brought machinery for sewing, knitting, spinning, cutting and printing fabrics, processing fibres, and embroidering, garment accessories, dyes and other products.

The four-day event is expected to be especially important this year in the context of Viet Nam signing off on the Trans Pacific Partnership (TPP) and free trade agreements with Korea and the Customs Union of Russia, Belarus and Kazakhstan and the December inauguration of the ASEAN Economic Community.

Nguyen Hong Giang, general secretary of the Viet Nam Cotton and Spinning Association, said when all the agreements take effect, Viet Nam's garment exports to the US, EU, Japan, and Korea would enjoy preferential tariffs, which would give it a considerable edge over other exporting countries.

Viet Nam needs 8.5 billion metres of fabric annually to produce garments but produces less than 3 billion metres, and has to increase its fabric production immediately, he said.

He expected the exhibition to help producers find machinery and technologies for the purpose.

The exhibition organisers, Vinexad and Chan Chao International of Taiwan, will hold a seminar today and tomorrow to discuss Viet Nam's investment environment; solutions to improve productivity, efficiency and quality in the textile and garment industry; FTAs and their impacts on the industry's development; and why Viet Nam can become a hub in the global textile and garment supply chain.

The exhibition is being held at the Tan Binh Exhibition and Convention Centre, Hoang Van Thu Street, Tan Binh District. — VNS