Eurasian geotextiles started a new chapter of communication

By+Shen+Da

The first EurAsian Geotextiles Symposium（EAGS， 2017） was held in Beijing Regent hotel on June 7 - 8. Organized by China Industrial Textiles Industry Association （CNITA） and European Nonwovens Association （EDANA）， it has been strongly supported by 16 international organizations， including the International Textile Manufacturers Association （ITMF）， International Association of Geosynthetic Materials （IGS）， the International Society for Geosynthetic Materials China Committee （CCIGS）. As the first grand gathering， the symposium attracted about 200 attendants from 14 countries and areas. Past President of China National Textile and Apparel Council （CNTAC） Wang Tiankai， the party secretary and secretary-general of CNTAC Gao yong， President of CNTAC Sun RuiZhe， vice President of CNTAC Xu Yingxin and Duan Xiaoping also attended the meeting.

Geotextile is an important category of industrial textiles， and it is also important for the construction of high quality engineering. With the implementation of infrastructure construction and“the Belt and Road Initiative” strategy during the period of 13th Five Year Plan， Asian and European geotextiles market will maintain rapid growth. The first Eurasian Geotextile Symposium made a threedimensional analysis of geotextile and architectural fabrics from the perspectives of engineering design， raw material supply， products manufacturing， engineering application and service， and built a platform for academic exchanges and business negotiation， to strengthen the exchanges of technology， information and market resources.

Pierre Wiertz， the general manager of EDANA and Li Lingshen， VP of China National Textile and Apparel Council and President of China Nonwovens & Industry Textiles Association， made short welcome speeches as host， respectively. Pierre Wiertz reviewed the course of the meeting and emphasized the importance of geotextiles. Also he stressed that the geotextiles was not only indispensable for infrastructure construction， but also beneficial to environment with less pollution and destruction. He firmly believed that the symposium would bring new opportunities and new ideas with the Belt and Road Initiative， just with the same wishes of President Li， to fully reach consensus and to enhance understanding and cooperation.

Li Lingshen in his keynote speech “Technology and Application of China Geotextiles” pointed out that industrial textiles has become not only the industry of sustaining economic growth and restructuring， and also a part of the strategic emerging industries and high-tech industries. By 2016， the proportion of fiber processing in the three areas of clothing， home textiles and industrial textiles was 45.57%， 27.68% and 26.75%. China is the largest producer， consumer and trading nation of industrial textiles in the world nowadays. He referred the most important technology innovations and strategic opportunity as well as the goal and the direction of development during 13th Five Year Plan （2016-2020）. In front of a variety of new development opportunities， Li Lingshen put forward four suggestions of optimizing development environment of industry， increasing the fiscal and taxation financial policy support， treasuring talent cultivation， as well as strengthening the innovation and application expansion. President Li ended his splendid speech with the expectation of “The mutual cooperation and exchanges between China-EU geotextiles industry will improve rapidly under the principal of integration， coordination and sharing”.

Danele cazzuffl， IGS past President， introduced influence factors of geosynthetics and the positive actions to influence service condition. Also he cited a case of landslide of volcanic ash soils in the northern Agnano plain to show the application of geotextile in reinforced slope. He added that it was very complicated for operating conditions and durability of geotextile， so it maybe cause a limit state with an improper usage of geotextile.

In the two days， many experts and representatives from Germany， France，China， South Korea， Italy delivered speeches about the engineering design and application， as well as technology research and case studies.

Lu zhongmin， Chairman of CTAG / vice president of Shanghai Investigation， Design & Research Institute Co.， Ltd.， introduced the progress in application of geotextiles to construction works in China. Parimal Parekh from India， managing director of Terram Geosynthetics， choose a Unique perspective to express his opinions on global trends in geosynthetics markets and industries. Loeck de Vries from Netherlands， Royal Ten Cate/ Chairman of Fiber & Application Committee of ITMF， made his speech of “overview of engineering design and application of geosynthetics”， which gave attendants many new innovative ideas， especially for product designers. Hong Kwan Kim， Director Textile Testing Dept of FITI Testing& Research Institute in Korea， interpreted common used testing standards， such as ISO 12958 and ASTM D 4716 for transmissivity test. Doctor Zhao Aigen， Director of Global Drainage and Civil Products of GSE， is very concerned about the leak detection and prevention of geomembrane. He showed many application cases by pictures and vedioes to emphasis the design criteria.

As the director of technical committee， Yu Jianyong， academician of Chinese Academy of Engineering， indicated that we had responsibility to lead the development of the industry， and make contribution to the progress of the industry. The conference pointed out a bright direction for the cooperation of Eurasian geotechincal textile industry， which would boost Asia-Europe cooperation in textile industry to a new level.

Pierre Wiertz said in an interview， there were so many opportunities to cooperate in the field of Non-woven industry. Also he suggested that Asia and Europe should both strengthen the communication with Russia， due to its unique geographical environment， which was conducive to the improvement of cold-resistance performance of gextextiles.

It can be concluded that goesynthetics has been widely used in various fields for a long time， just as Li Lingshen described” geosynthetics is a familiar stranger”. The meeting is part of “the Belt and Road Initiative”， but its more than that. China and the European Union have reached more and more consensus on FTA （free trade agreement）， and all maximize global responsibilities. The meeting provides a new and broad platform for the cooperation of all countries. Relying on the platform， the related resources and opportunities of the global can be more optimized configuration， thus drives the development of geosynthetics industry.