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PRESS RELEASE 30 September 2009
Ushering in a new era
On 16th and 17th October 2009
Kastoria will find itself at the centre of the international fur industry, with
the town hosting an important event that promises great things for the sector,
the first Global Fur Forum. The inspiration and organising force behind this
important new initiative is the Greek Furriers' Association (GFA), which hopes
the event will usher in a new era for the fur industry.
There has been a remarkably positive response to the
initiative from the international fur sector, with key players and important
figures in the industry expressing an interest in attending the Forum and
making valuable contributions. Some 50 prominent personalities in the worlds of
fur, fashion and retail have secured a place on the list of speakers. There
will also be official guests from China, Hong Kong, Korea, Russia, Finland,
Germany, Denmark, the UK, Holland, France, Spain, Italy, Turkey, the USA,
Canada and Argentina.
To ensure that as many different voices as possible
are heard, giving a comprehensive view of the current situation in the
industry, invitations have been issued to figures across the whole spectrum of
the sector. Guests from the fields of production, auctioning, processing and
distribution of raw materials, design and fashion, retail chains, the IFTF as
well as the financial and political agencies involved in the industry will
identify problems and key issues and attempt to propose solutions, giving their
views on the current global state of the sector and on specific issues relating
to their own areas and the countries they represent.
In the issues selected for discussion the organisers
have tried to cover the whole range of sector activity. The intention was that the
event would be as comprehensive and productive as possible, leaving no area
untouched. The Forum will revolve around three main axes - production of raw
materials and management of resources, retail sales and the global economic
crisis.
In an ever more demanding and globalised environment
it is essential to forge closer links between the leading figures in the
industry from around the world, and this is the primary intention behind the
organisation of this first Global Fur Forum. It is also hoped that the event
will reverse the negative climate currently prevailing as a result of the
international crisis, allowing people to put forward their views and set out
their claims for positive results. It will also help to promote our industry
and communicate our views to the media and the European Parliament. And of
course, it will help to promote Kastoria, Siatista, and - by extension -
Macedonia and Greece, on the global level.
The Global Forum is, indisputably, an ambitious
initiative which will help to upgrade the work of the sector in all sorts of
ways. This is why the organisers hope to see it repeated every second year,
becoming a vital institution and point of reference, a driving force for growth
across the fur industry as a whole.
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