A Team led by Executive Director of Africa Lather and leather products Institute (ALLPI) Prof. M. Mwinyihija participated in the “11th Asia International Conference of Leather Science and Technology (AICLST)”. The conference was hosted by the China Leather Industry Association (CLIA) and organized by Shaanxi University of Science and Technology (SUST) in the city of Xi’an, Shaanxi province, China on the 16th -19th Oct., 2018.
The General objective of participation in the above mentioned conference were information sharing experiences for the better support of leather development in Africa and to get input and supports from different stakeholders for the preparation of IULTCS 2021 Congress in Ethiopia. The IULTCS Committee meeting was also held during this conference and as ALLPI Executive Director is active member of this Committee the participation was very mandatory.
Xi’an, which was called “Chang’an” in ancient times, is one of the four world-famous Great Ancient Capitals in the world. As the most famous national historical and cultural city, Xi'an ranks the first place among the ancient capitals under several of the important dynasties in Chinese history. It is the cradle of Chinese nation, the birthplace of Chinese civilization and the representative of Chinese culture. Xi'an once was recognized as the capital city of 13 dynasties in China, as well as the political, economic and cultural center of China for more than 1200 years and has been known as the national history museum. It is the starting point of the “Silk Road”, and also the world famous tourist destination city. There are many attractive sites around the city, including the world-famous “Terra Cotta Warriors and Horses”, which has been called “the eighth wonder of the world”. Today, as the capital city of Shaanxi province in China, Xi’an has strong strength in technology and education.
The theme of the conference was the Science and Technology Innovation Boosts the Transformation and Development of Global Leather Industry. The paper presented during the conference focuses on the topics of basic scientific researches of leather, leather chemicals, cleaner technologies for leather manufacture, composite materials and utilization of leather waste resource, environmental protection technologies in leather industry, progress on the detection techniques in leather-making, enterprises management and sustainable development of leather industry and intelligent manufacturing of leather products.
As a full Executive Committee member, ALLPI Executive Director participated in IULTCS Executive Committee meeting that was held on October 17,2018 starting mid day. During the meeting the activities so far regarding the preparation of IULTCS 2021 congress in Ethiopia was presented and the proposed date of conference for IULTCS Ethiopia agreed by Executive members as of October, 2021. Participation in the IUE Commission meeting was also conducted during this particular conference and different activities related to environment protection planned for future activity. The Discussion with Ethiopian Embassy officials from Beijing was also part of the activity during the conference and the agreement was reached to initiate the activities from the concerned ministries to involve the Embassy in the IULTCS 2021 conference. After the closing session of the conference Executive Director of ALLPI Prof. Dr. Mwinyikione Mwinyihija delivered speech and presentation to post graduate students at Shaanxi University of Science and Technology SUST. The main focus of the presentation was how Leather is important commodity in the world and the role of leather professionals for developing leather sector. This speech inspired the students to develop Leather sector and different questions were raised for discussion.
In this conference 400 participants from Asian and other parts of the world taking part and share the status of Leather development worldwide at this particular global phenomenon.
