The 76th Plenary Meeting of the International Cotton Advisory Committee and the 13th International Uzbek Cotton and Textile Fair are being held in Tashkent.

At the meeting of this committee held last year, a decision was taken on conducting a conference in Tashkent on “Cotton in the era of globalization and technological progress”. This is another confirmation of steady strengthening of the international status of Uzbekistan, as one of the major centers of the cotton and textile industries. 

About 1500 specialists from more than 50 countries are taking part in the work of the meeting and the fair. 

International Cotton Advisory Committee was established in 1939. It currently includes organizations such as the Standing Committee, the Task Force on Commercial Standardization of Instrument Testing of Cotton, the Expert Panel on Social, Environmental and Economic Performance of Cotton Production, the Expert Panel on Biotechnology, the International Forum on Development of Cotton Industry, the Expert Panel on Ginning Methods, as well as a number of key structures aimed at development of the sphere. 

International Uzbek Cotton Fair is also included in the list of important events of the International Cotton Advisory Committee, which is one of the prestigious forums that determine the policy of the cotton market on a global scale. The fair is organized with cooperation of JSC “Uzbekengilsanoat” (“Uzbekistan light industry”), the ministries of foreign trade, agriculture and water resources of the Republic of Uzbekistan, the “Sifat” (“Quality”) center. 

The current state and prospects of the world cotton market are being discussed within the framework of the event, sessions will be held on the issues of growing competitive industrial raw materials, its deep processing, trade, logistics and insurance. Issues of selection, cotton agrotechnics, crop protection from various agricultural pests and diseases, fiber quality assessment will be studied in the example of Uzbekistan. 

Qualitative indicators of domestic fiber are radically improving due to technical and technological reforms implemented in the system, innovations introduced into practice. This, in turn, plays a key role in acquisition of a lasting place in global cotton market in the current strong competition. According to experts, in 2016, the share of fiber of “Oliy” (“Premium”) and “Yakhshi” (“Good”) varieties grew by 10 percent and reached 92 percent in the country compared to previous years. 

The volume of fiber processing is also increasing. If only 3-5 percent of fiber was processed in the country in the early 1990s, now this figure has exceeded 50 percent. The commissioning of new capacities even in the most remote regions, the radical modernization of existing enterprises is contributing to the expansion of the scale of work in this direction. However, the goal is common: to achieve 100% processing of domestic fiber until 2020, supply the international market with high-quality finished products with added value. 

Cotton and knitted fabrics, dyed and mixed yarn, special fabrics, finished products of about one hundred enterprises of JSC “Uzbekengilsanoat” are widely represented on the stands of the fair. The annual export of products of enterprises of the system exceeds 1 billion dollars. It is supplied to more than 50 countries. 

Within the framework of the fair, it is planned to hold master classes with participation of designers from South Korea and Uzbekistan for the first time, training seminars on issues of expansion of textile exports to the EU countries. It is also planned to demonstrate the textile potential, a fashion show of clothes produced in domestic enterprises.