The 4th International Cotton Conference took place on September 17th in the Intercontinental Hotel, Tashkent. Despite the postponement of the event by a week, a sizeable audience was in attendance, including representatives from China, Bangladesh and Pakistan. During conference Mr. Elyor Ganiev, Minister for Foreign Economic Relations, Investment and Trade, began the second session by describing the current state and development of the cotton industry in Uzbekistan. Mr. Ganiev referred to an expected cotton lint output this season of some one million tonnes, domestic consumption of 300,000 tonnes and an expectation that the latter figure will rise in future, to account for at least 50 percent of production.
During the 3rd Uzbek International Cotton Fair commenced on September 18th ca. 600 .000 tonnes of Uzbeki cotton were sold – mainly for buyers from China, Bangladesh, Russia, Pakistan, Iran, Turkey and major international trading companies.