Africa sets out stall for cotton at the WTO

African countries are taking a stand at the World Trade Organization to bolster their cotton sector, launching a platform tasked with mobilising investment to transform the cotton, textile and clothing value chain.

"The cotton sector represents one of the most promising drivers of industrialisation in Africa, particularly in West and Central Africa," said Cameroon's Trade Minister Luc Magloire Mbarga Atangana, at a meeting on cotton ahead of the WTO's ministerial conference, which opened Thursday in the Cameroonian capital Yaounde.