The Government of Uzbekistan has invited Bangladeshi entrepreneurs to invest in the textile sector in Uzbekistan. During a meeting with Bangladesh Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina in Dhaka, the visiting Uzbek Minister for Foreign Economic Relations and Trade & Investment Elyor Majidovic Ganiev said the significant growth of textile and apparel industry in Bangladesh is an example which Uzbekistan could learn from Bangladesh. Mr. Ganiev said infrastructure is very cheap in Uzbekistan and urged Bangladeshi entrepreneurs to invest in the textile and garment sector in Uzbekistan, PM's Deputy Press Secretary Bijal Lal Deb told reporters after the meeting. The visiting Minister said the Uzbek Government would provide all support to Bangladeshi investors for establishment of textile and garment factories in the country. He said that an Uzbek delegation would soon visit Bangladesh to explore ways to further develop jute yarn.
According to the Minister, about 500 skilled workers from Bangladesh were hired by Uzbekistan in the last eight months, and 1,500 more skilled workers would be soon hired. On her part, Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina called upon the Uzbek entrepreneurs to set up transport vehicle and agri machinery manufacturing industries in Bangladesh, and assured complete Government's support for the same. Uzbekistan is a major producer of cotton, and the country produced over 3.35 million tons of raw cotton in 2013. However, all the cotton is not consumed by the domestic textile industry. Last year, the production of the textile sector in Uzbekistan grew by 11.2 percent to 6.68 trillion soms (US$ 2.93 billion), while the garment sector output jumped by 23.8 percent to 718.1 billion soms ($315 million). Bangladesh exports around $22 billion worth of knitted and woven garments a year, and is currently the second-largest apparel exporter, next only to China.
