At the opening of the National People's Congress and the Chinese People's Political Consultative Conference, representatives and members of the textile industry have focused on the hot and difficult points of industry development, provided suggestions and suggestions, and are committed to promoting high-quality development of international cooperation in the industry.

According to a pre-meeting investigation by the China National Textile and Apparel Council, many proposals from representative members are focused on promoting diversified international cooperation in the textile industry chain and supply chain, and promoting stable and high-quality foreign trade; cultivate new quality productivity in traditional industries, expand application space, and cultivate new competitive advantages in the industry; support the digital transformation of industries, promote industry collaboration and standardized development; strongly support the sustainable development of the textile industry, the construction of dual carbon service platforms, and resource recycling; Fully leverage the leading and demonstrative role of clusters in building a modern textile industry system.
 
Ensure the stability of the "two chains."
 
To promote the high-quality development of the textile industry, Liu Zibin, a National People's Congress representative and Chairman and President of Lutai Textile Co., Ltd., suggested that while accelerating the industry’s green and low-carbon process, we should continue to deepen international cooperation in the textile industry and supply chain.
In 2023, China's textile and clothing exports reached 293.64 billion US dollars, and China's textile and clothing exports accounted for about 30% of the global textile and clothing exports. In Liu Zibin's view, although the production and manufacturing capacity and trade scale of China's textile industry have consistently ranked first in the world and have the advantages of international cooperation and integrated development, in the context of accelerating the reconstruction of the global supply chain pattern, the industry still faces pressure and challenges in conducting international cooperation in a steady and orderly manner and further integrating into the global market.

In promoting international cooperation in the textile industry supply chain, Liu Zibin suggests continuously strengthening top-level design and policy support, increasing support for international cooperation projects in the textile industry, and considering incorporating the textile and clothing industry into the priority areas for capacity cooperation under the framework of foreign cooperation mechanisms such as the Lancang Mekong Cooperation, the Forum on China Africa Cooperation, and the China Latin American Community Forum; Fully leverage the role of various foreign cooperation mechanisms and platforms, and encourage the promotion of bilateral and multilateral textile industry cooperation with key countries and regions.
 
Deepen key regional cooperation
 
In terms of cooperation regions, the Belt and Road co-construction countries and SCO member states have received the focus of the delegates.

Since the joint construction of the Belt and Road more than ten years ago,, the textile industry has carried out rich innovative practices in the Belt and Road countries. Lutai has seized opportunities and vigorously implemented a comprehensive internationalization strategy since 2013, optimizing its production capacity layout. It has invested in and built six production bases overseas, forming an integrated layout of the yarn, fabric, and clothing industry chain.

To encourage textile and clothing enterprises to increase their efforts to explore the Belt and Road co-built national market, Liu Zibin suggested that textile and clothing enterprises should use relevant support policies and special funds to encourage them to actively explore the Belt and Road co-built national market, and encourage and support large backbone enterprises to grow into transnational textile and clothing industry groups with a high level of international operation; Support ethnic brands to explore emerging markets and establish the image of Chinese textile, clothing, and home textile brands in the international market.
The proposal to promote the establishment of the Shanghai Cooperation Organization Cotton Common Market was proposed by Liang Yong, a member of the National Committee of the Chinese People's Political Consultative Conference, a member of the Democratic Progressive Party Central Committee, and the director of the Office of the Leading Group for Cotton Industry Development of the People's Government of Xinjiang Uygur Autonomous Region.

Cotton is one of the most important commodities for SCO member countries. The cotton production in Xinjiang, China, India, Pakistan, and five Central Asian countries accounts for nearly 60% of the global cotton production. In November and December 2023, the China (Xinjiang) Pilot Free Trade Zone and the Xinjiang National Cotton and Yarn Trading Center were successively established, providing opportunities for further strengthening cooperation between China and SCO member countries in the cotton and textile clothing industry.

Liang Yong believes that establishing a common market for cotton under the Shanghai Cooperation Organization is of great significance. It is conducive to exporting China's advanced cotton planting technology and cotton picking equipment to SCO countries, enhancing the international influence and discourse power of China's cotton industry. It is conducive to giving full play to the role and function of China (Xinjiang) Pilot Free Trade Zone and Xinjiang National Cotton and Cotton Yarn Trading Center, promoting the transformation of Xinjiang's resource advantages, better integrating into the domestic and international double cycle, serving the construction of the core area of the "the Belt and Road", and creating a golden passage between Asia and Europe and a bridgehead opening to the west; It will help deepen industrial and trade cooperation among SCO countries and provide important industrial and trade support for the in-depth implementation of the "the Belt and Road" construction.

To promote the establishment of the Shanghai Cooperation Organization (SCO) Cotton Common Market, Liang Yong suggested conducting negotiations on a multilateral cotton industry cooperation mechanism within the SCO framework, promoting the establishment of a mutual recognition mechanism for cotton, cotton yarn, and other products among countries in the region, and researching and formulating import and export tariff rate policies to promote cooperation on cotton and its products within the SCO Common Market region.

To promote national cotton and its products, Liang Yong said that Xinjiang textile and clothing industry will actively expand overseas markets, especially the Belt and Road to jointly build a national market, strengthen cooperation and exchanges with overseas well-known brands, form a community of mutual benefits, promote the stability of the international industrial chain supply chain, and constantly improve the reputation and international competitiveness of Xinjiang cotton.
 
Improve carbon footprint management
Energy conservation, carbon reduction, and sustainable development are the major trends in the industry. National People's Congress representative and President of Ordos Investment Holding Group, Wang Zhen, submitted a proposal to strongly support the construction of industry dual carbon service platforms and promote safe and green development of the textile industry.

In recent years, the textile industry has actively implemented the national "dual carbon" strategy and various policy requirements, comprehensively and deeply promoted various work such as standard formulation, talent cultivation, pilot demonstration construction, and service platform construction, and made phased progress in promoting the green and low-carbon transformation and development of the industry. In order to accelerate the development of the carbon footprint field, the "Opinions on Accelerating the Establishment of a Product Carbon Footprint Management System" issued in November 2023 states explicitly that by 2025, around 50 key product carbon footprint accounting rules and standards will be introduced at the national level, a batch of key industry carbon footprint background databases will be preliminarily established, and the national product carbon labeling certification system will be basically established.

At the same time, facing the implementation of green trade barriers represented by the EU's carbon border regulation mechanism, the Chinese textile industry still faces many challenges in key areas, such as carbon footprint accounting rules, background databases, and industrial data security.

"We urgently need to build a carbon footprint database with a localization background in the textile industry that meets international standards and China's national conditions." Wang Zhen believes that this is a practical need to promote industrial green and low-carbon transformation and development, build a green and low-carbon product consumption market, and also an inevitable requirement to address international green trade barriers. Therefore, Wang Zhen suggested that the country should strongly support and promote the construction of a local background database for the textile industry. During this period, attention should be paid to improving the platform's security and protection capabilities, optimizing service prices, and relying on the textile full lifecycle green evaluation service platform to serve textile enterprises after the database is completed.