With the organizational support of the Ministry of Agriculture of Azerbaijan, a meeting on the topic ‘Results of 2020 and tasks for 2021 on the development of cotton growing in Azerbaijan’ was held, the ministry told Trend.

Globally competitive cotton varieties have been created in Azerbaijan, Director of the Plant Protection Institute of the Azerbaijani Ministry of Agriculture Elchin Khalilov told Trend.

As part of cooperation with a number of countries in the field of cotton growing under the leadership of the Agriculture Ministry and the organization of exemplary farms using cotton processing technologies of individual countries, fiberless cotton seeds were planted in Azerbaijan, a source in the Agriculture Ministry told Trend.

President of Azerbaijan Ilham Aliyev has chaired a meeting on the results of cotton-growing season and the measures to be taken in 2020.

As decided during the 5th Meeting of the India-Azerbaijan Intergovernmental Commission held in New Delhi in October 2018, Government of India deputed an expert on cotton, Dr. V.N. Waghmare, to Azerbaijan to explore collaboration with Azerbaijan in cotton cultivation. Dr. Waghmare, Director of the Central Institute for Cotton Research (CICR), Nagpur (pioneer cotton research Institute in India) visited Azerbaijan for a week from 27 October 2019.

As of Oct. 9, 130,201 tons of raw cotton were delivered to cotton collection centers across Azerbaijan, which is 1.6 times more compared to the same period of 2018,Trend reports referring to Azerbaijani Agriculture Ministry.

Some 100,000 hectares of cotton were planted in Azerbaijan in 2019 and high productivity in cotton harvesting is expected due to relevant measures taken to develop this sector.

The US Labor Department made the final decision on the withdrawal of Uzbek cotton from the list of Executive Order No. 13126, a presidential act prohibiting government procurement in the US of goods manufactured using forced child labor, Trend reports with reference to the Embassy of Uzbekistan in Washington.

Azerbaijan has ancient traditions of cotton growing. During excavations at the construction site of the Mingachevir Hydro Power Plant, a flap of cotton was found, dated back few thousand years ago.

Strengthening and developing bilateral relations of friendship and cooperation with China is one of the priorities of Tajikistan’s foreign policy.