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Contact:
Cass
Johnson,
202-822-8025/Missy
Branson,
202-822-8026
May
17, 2006
NCTO
Board Adopts New Resolutions on Trade Agreements
at
Annual Meeting
Urges
Immediate Action on CAFTA
Fixes
Announces
“Hill to the Mill” Campaign for Summer
2006
Washington,
DC)
At its third annual meeting in
Washington,
DC,
from May 14-17, the NCTO
Board took the following
actions:
1)
Trade
Agreements:
Adopted a new position regarding support
for free trade agreements which takes into account
the impact that current WTO DOHA Round
negotiations and
Vietnam’s
final WTO accession agreement will have on the
viability of current and upcoming free trade
agreements.
The Board advised that it would not
support, and could actively oppose, upcoming FTAs
and other trade legislation, if the WTO
negotiations cited above compromise the integrity
and intended trade benefits of current and future
agreements.
As a result of the Board decision,
NCTO
delayed a decision on the
Peru
and Colombia
trade agreements.
2)
CAFTA
Fixes:
Noting the closure of several U.S.
pocketing plants and sharply reduced pocketing
orders (down an average of 65% from pre-CAFTA
levels) for remaining U.S. producers,
NCTO
strongly urged the U.S. government to immediately
convene the CAFTA Working Group and implement the
rule change for pocketing and linings agreed to
during CAFTA ratification. The Board
also urged the U.S. Congress to move quickly on
legislation implementing these fixes as well as
tariff issues associated with “rolling
implementation”.
3)
Announced
that NCTO had initiated a “Bring the
Hill to Mill” campaign with the objective of
bringing every member of Congress with textile
facilities into a textile mill for a briefing on
textile trade issues over the next three months.
4)
NCTO
elected the following officers to serve during the
2006-2007 year:
a.
NCTO
Chairman:
Smyth McKissick, President, Alice
Manufacturing Company
b.
NCTO
Vice Chairman: D. Harding
Stowe, President and CEO, R.L. Stowe
Mills
c.
NCTO
2nc Vice Chairman: Wally
Darnielle, President and CEO, Plains Cotton
Cooperative Association
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