Nearly 3.4 million tonnes of raw cotton harvested in Uzbekistan thus far in 2013, government says

Nevin Barich

October 28, 2013 (BBC News) – Excerpt from report by Uzbek UzDaily.uz news website on 25 October

More than 3.35 million tonnes of raw cotton has been harvested in Uzbekistan. This is said in congratulations from Uzbekistan's President Islom Karimov to the country's cotton growers.

"It gives me pleasure to heartily congratulate cotton growers and all other rural workers on this success. They have made a really great contribution to further raising the people's wellbeing and living standards and to the steady development of our economy and the entire country," the president of Uzbekistan said.

[Passage omitted: about difficult weather conditions]

"In the 1990s, only 7 per cent of the cotton produced in Uzbekistan was processed in the republic. And over the past period of time [that is, since then] this indicator rose nearly six-fold, and today it is about 40 per cent. This helps resolve problems that are before us and makes it possible to provide jobs for thousands of our compatriots, first of all, young people, thus increasing their sources of income," the president of Uzbekistan noted.

"According to preliminary estimates, this year's gross income from cotton production will exceed 3,100bn soms, that is 23 per cent more than in last year. This will serve to increase the interest of peasants and farmers in the results of their work and in the effective implementation of the tasks set out in the `The Year of Prosperity' programme and other national programmes," he said.

[The official exchange rate is 2,168 soms for one dollar]

Source: UzDaily.uz website, Tashkent, in Russian 25 Oct 13

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(c) 2013 BBC Monitoring Service

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