DUSHANBE, April 6, 2009, Asia-Plus  - On Friday April 3, Agriculture Minister Qosim Qosimov met here with Mr. Bob Hudson, the Asian Development Bank’s (ADB) Consultant for Cotton Sector Development and Planning (as said), according to press service of the Ministry of Agriculture (MoA).

In the course of the talks, the minister, in particular, noted that with financial support of the ADB Tajikistan has been gradually introducing the cotton quality evaluation system, USDA, since last year.  Qosimov noted that there were some problems affecting quality of cotton in the country and not all cotton-ginning factories in the country met international standard requirements.

In this connection, he asked the ADB to support an idea of establishment of the cotton quality improvement department within a MoA that would coordinate activities of bodies dealing with the cotton quality matters.