The XI International Cotton Fair held in Tashkent October 15-16 with over 1,000 representatives of 470 companies from 42 countries took part. At the closing ceremony of the fair, Uzbekistan minister of foreign economic relations, investments and trade, Elyor Ganiev said that Uzbekistan during the fair concluded contracts for export of 700,000 tons of cotton fiber and finished textile products worth more than $800 million.

This forum has once again demonstrated its special role and relevance for the global cotton and textile community. At the two days fair the participants exchanged views on topical issues concerning the present and future of the cotton industry, reached a number of agreements on the development of partnership relations.

Contracts for the purchase of cotton fiber were concluded with companies from Bangladesh, China, Turkey, Singapore, Malaysia, Indonesia, Vietnam, Poland, UAE, Czech Republic, Great Britain, Iran and Russia.

Agreements for the acquisition of textile were signed with companies from Poland, Turkey, Russia, Singapore, South Korea and other countries.

In addition, two memoranda of cooperation in the textile industry were signed with Indorama (Singapore) and Swiss Capital (Switzerland) companies.

Uzbekistan produces around 3.5 million tons of raw cotton and 1.1 million tons of cotton fiber per year and ranks sixth for production and fifth for the export of cotton fiber in the world.

The fair has been held annually in Uzbekistan since 2005 organized by the government of Uzbekistan with the assistance of the International Cotton Advisory Committee (ICAC). In total, Uzbekistan has signed the export contracts worth about 8 million tons of cotton fiber at the fairs.