DUSHANBE, September 26, Asia-Plus - Turkey’s Sanko Holding and Confederation of Businessmen and Industrialists of Turkey (Tuscon) intend to conduct market research into the possibility of investment in the textile sector of Tajikistan.  

Deputy Tajik Industries Minister, Abdukarim Hikmatov, said an agreement on this subject had been reached in the course of the conference “Turkey-Eurasia Foreign Trade Bridge” that was held in Istanbul on September 17-18.  According to him, Tajikistan hopes that businessmen from Turkey will sponsor the project aimed at enhancement of light industry in the country.   

Hikmatov added that a group of top mangers of Turkey’s largest textile producers is expected to arrive in Tajikistan in late October to familiarize themselves with the business environment in Tajikistan and consider the possibility of launching joint ventures.   

According to Hikmatov, Tajikistan’s government intends to drum up US$320 million in the near future  to enhance the country’s light industry.  “At present 13 joint textile ventures operate in Tajikistan,” said Hikmatov, “Investors of these enterprises are companies from the United States, Australia, Italy and Poland.”   «Сегодня в Таджикистане функционирует 13 совместных текстильных предприятий,

Hikmatov noted that only 13 percent of the cotton Tajikistan produces is processed into manufactured goods in Tajikistan, while the remainder is exported for manufacturing outside the country.  “This year, the government has adopted a program for enhancement of the light industry, under which Tajikistan is scheduled to process the whole volume of cotton at the textile enterprises in the country by 2015,” the Tajik official said.