“Uzbekistan is moving to become the region’s leading economy, its financial center, Akmal Kamalov, chairman of the board of UzPahtaSanoatExport holding company, said yesterday in his opening remarks at the 13th International cotton and textile fair in Tashkent.

"Uzbekistan has a huge potential and is striving to build a strong diversified economy with an aim to become the region's scientific, technological, production, financial, transport, tourist and cultural center. Over the years of independence, the structure of the economy has transitioned from being predominantly agrarian to an economy with mighty industry".

"If in the 90s, the cotton acreage in Uzbekistan was 2.2 million hectares, through gradual reforms in agriculture, diversification of economy, it fell to 1.2 million hectares."

"These measures allowed to more than double the acreage of grains, fruits and vegetables and thus ensured the country's food security. At the same time, he believes that it is very important to preserve the existing cotton crop volume for Uzbekistan's textile industry."

"If in 1991 the volume of fiber processing was around 7%, then in 2017 this figure reached 70%. During this period, there was a significant, almost 30-fold increase in textiles exports".

"The increase in the cotton processing is being achieved due to increase in the number of textile firms, with about 150 new light industry facilities worth over $ 2 billion are planned to be commissioned in Uzbekistan by 2020”.

According to the Ministry of Economy, in 2021 Uzbekistan will achieve 100% processing of its cotton fiber. At the same time, by 2021 the production of textile and ready made garments will increase by 2.2 times compared to 2016.