Briefing by Uzbekistan Textile and Garment Industry Association, with the assistance of the Ministry of Investments and Foreign Trade, the Ministry of Foreign Affairs with the support of GIZ, ILO, Silverleafe
Uzbekistan textile and Garment Industry Association, with the assistance of the Ministry of Investment and Foreign Trade, the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, organized an online briefing at the international level on April 11, 2022. The main purpose of which is to inform the world community about the reforms in the textile industry of Uzbekistan, about the next steps of the industry “out of boycott”, the benefits of collaboration and ambition to turn Uzbekistan into a regional textile hub. About 180 representatives of the textile industry from 30 countries of the world joined the briefing.
The speakers were not chosen by chance – they represented organizations that have made a significant contribution to the eradication of child and forced labor, and then the abolition of the boycott of Uzbek cotton, they were witnesses of reforms and changes. The speakers told from personal experience what the textile industry of Uzbekistan is today and how the Government of the country fully supports business representatives, investors, pays special attention to the observance of human rights and freedoms, creating favorable conditions for workers.
Why is the textile industry unique? What are her strengths? What does the industry offer foreign brands?
Speaking about the textile industry of Uzbekistan, the experts noted that Uzbekistan is the only country in the world that managed to completely eradicate forced labor in a very short time and prevent further growth.
The uniqueness of the industry lies in the fact that Uzbekistan was able to install capacities for 100% processing of cotton fiber within the country, while other “textile” countries could only dream of it.
Another important advantage is that the country has sufficient raw material resources and is not dependent on external situations.
Uzbekistan continues reforms and, together with the International Labor Organization, has successfully implemented the priority tasks identified in the Decent Work Program in Uzbekistan 2014-2020 and today a new Country Program on Decent Work in Uzbekistan for 2021-2025 has been adopted, in which special attention is paid to such issues as creating decent working conditions, reducing informal employment and strengthening social protection, improving the legal framework governing labor relations.
Jonas Astrup, head of the Third Party Monitoring project, emphasized that Uzbekistan is free from any kind of forced and child labor, and this fact was confirmed by international organizations. Mr. Astrup called on the world community to widely disseminate this information and assured that all “doors” for cooperation are open in Uzbekistan.
According to the report “Third Party Monitoring”, the ILO during the briefing held on March 1 this year at the end of 2021, no cases of forced labor were registered. The official ILO statement on the status of Uzbekistan, the Cotton Campaign coalition has canceled the global boycott of Uzbek cotton.
Speaking about cooperation with international organizations, Sultanov Mirmukhsin, a representative of the Ministry of Investments and Foreign Trade, spoke about the developed Roadmap for developing cooperation with international brands and promoting Uzbek textiles in new promising markets such as North Africa, South Asia, Europe and the USA.
Representative of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs Sultonbek Imomov noted that the Ministry of Foreign Affairs and the Embassies of the Republic of Uzbekistan abroad are ready to consider proposals from foreign companies for cooperation.
Joanna Moest is a representative of the German Organization for International Cooperation (GIZ) spoke about the project “Sustainable Development and Added Value in the Cotton Industry”, which has already begun to bear fruit. She also informed about the seminars on the implementation of world certificates and training of merchandisers as part of the Fashion Incubator Tashkent project.
Dan Petterson, CEO of Silverleafe, shared his experience on doing business in Uzbekistan. He told his vision as an investor, as an industry expert about changes in the business environment in the country, in particular the textile industry. He noted that Silverleafe will work hard to attract international brands to Uzbekistan.
The chairman of the Uzbekistan textile and garment industry Association, Ilkhom Khaydarov, noted that the lifting of the boycott is a historic event that has become a turning point for the development of the Uzbek textile industry. This is one of the few measures that today contributes to the formation of a positive background for the Uzbek textile industry, the growth of exports, attraction of investments, the creation of new jobs for millions of people in the country, the creation of a new responsible business model based on the principles of decent work at all levels of the chain supplies.
It should be noted that today the textile industry of Uzbekistan is represented by over 7,000 textile companies that produce all types of textile products. The industry employs over 401.0 thousand people, of which 60% are women and youth. It is the latter fact that should be the focus of attention of the international community, since the subsequent well-being of the life of employees depends precisely on the orders of foreign companies.
Now that we have a new space in front of us, there are big challenges ahead for the industry, and we firmly believe that we will ensure the implementation of our goals and become competent participant in the global textile community.
Working with world textile brands is an important direction in the development of the textile industry, new vectors of cooperation are opening up by entering new commodity markets, increasing the export of finished products, and as a result, solving social issues.
The dialogue established in recent years between international organizations and Uzbek departments has reached a fundamentally new level. Recognition of the fact of the complete absence of child and forced labor in the cotton harvest in Uzbekistan suggests further strengthening of cooperation between brands and Uzbek manufacturers of textile products.
Today we can state that Uzbekistan is ready to work with brands. For this, conditions have been created for the organization of entrepreneurial activity. There are financial and labor resources which are capable to conduct production and business skillfully in an open market, an efficient transport and logistics system has been built that provides optimal routes and corridors for the delivery of goods, also manufactured products are certified by harmonizing them with international requirements and standards. Together with international certification companies, work is underway to implement international standards. The number of Uzbek textile enterprises that have received certificates according to the OEKO-TEX Standard 100, BSCI, Sedex, GOTS, etc. standards is increasing every year.
Within a project by the International Finance Corporation (IFC), there have been engrained standards promoting reforms in the cotton sector in certain regions of Uzbekistan and implementation of a socially responsible and environmentally sustainable cotton system (SCSS), and besides it is realized the project of the German Society for International Cooperation (GIZ) “Sustainable development and increase in added value in the cotton industry”.
