Columbia, S.C. - Governor Jim Hodges today joined North Carolina Governor Mike Easley and Georgia Governor Roy Barnes at a regional textile summit to discuss ways to bolster the ailing industry.

The summit gave the governors and state and local government leaders an opportunity to hear specific concerns from representatives of the textile industry, economists and local economic development officials. The governors also discussed possible solutions to the industry's problems in the Southeast.

"We have reached this crisis situation because of illegal trade competition and the strong dollar policy that has led to a flood of cheap imported textiles. Our economic slowdown has also decreased production nationwide," Hodges said. "President Bush and our national leaders must join our efforts. We all must act today to save our textile industries."

During the summit, Governor Hodges called on President Bush to assist in combating the dumping of international textile goods on U.S. markets and to pressure trading partners to open their markets to U.S. exports, as committed in prior agreements. The Governor also called on Congress to extend the Trade Adjustment Assistance program to two years and to provide full health care coverage. This extension would allow unemployed textile workers to get additional training and to earn an Associates Degree.

Since 1995, South Carolina has lost close to 30,000 textile-related jobs. More than 26 plants have closed in this state and more than 8,000 workers have been laid off just since last year. The summit will be re-broadcast at 1 p.m. today over the Internet using streaming video at http://ncndcmitsra.sips.state.nc.us:8080\ramgen\encoder\live. The stream is being broadcast using RealPlayer.