Uzbekistan wants to progress from being an exporter of raw cotton to developing value added products.  With that in mind,  President Shavkat Mirziyoyev signed a decree to deepen reforms in the textile industry to fully reprocess raw cotton domestically and increase export potential of the country.

 

"My biggest goal is to provide people with work, a source of income. From now on, we will export less cotton, process it in the country and produce value-added products," President Mirziyoyev told local media.

 

The decree instructs the government, within three months, to develop and approve the Concept of accelerated development of the textile and clothing-knitting industry for the period 2019-2025.

 

Under the scheme, Uzbekistan should be able to reprocess all the produced cotton domestically and increase the export volumes of textile products to $7 billion per year by 2025, according to the document.

 

The decree also provides various stimulating measures for enterprises engaged in export of textile products starting from April 1, 2019.

 

Uzbekistan, the world's sixth-largest cotton producer, produced 2.3 million tons of raw cotton in 2018.

 

Cotton is Uzbekistan's most important cash crop.

 

According to the statistics of the National Statistical Committee of Uzbekistan, the textile exports of Uzbekistan maintained a rapid growth in 2018. The annual export of textiles reached $1.6 billion, up by 41.4 percent from the previous year.

 

"My biggest goal is to provide people with work, a source of income. From now on, we will export less cotton, process it in the country and produce value-added products," President Mirziyoyev told local media.