OREANDA-NEWS. December 09, 2013. The 9th international specialized exhibition of products of the agricultural and food industry UzAgroExpo – 2013 and UzProdExрo – 2013 has kicked off at the Uzexpocenter in Tashkent.

Organized by the Ministry of Agriculture and Water Resources of Uzbekistan in partnership with the Trade and Industry Chamber, the Farmers Council, the Tashkent City Mayor’s Office (hokimiyat), the associations of the livestock goods producers, of enterprises of food industry of Uzbekistan, the occasion is attended by firms and companies with their goods and services from such countries as Uzbekistan, China, Germany, Italy, France, Russia, Ukraine and Poland.

It was noted during the opening ceremony of the exhibition that the consistent measures being taken under the leadership of President Islam Karimov in the reforms and liberalization of agriculture and manufacturing industry have been serving as important factors for the further growth of the economy and the elevation in wellbeing of the population.

As the Farmers Council of Uzbekistan has reported, as a result of wide-ranging efforts designed to increase the production of fruits and vegetables, meats and dairy products and their reprocessing, more than 17 thousand farmer enterprises have been reinstituted into diversified enterprises. Some 400 farmer enterprises launched reprocessing of agricultural goods in the nine months of 2013.

In boosting the procurement of fruits and vegetables and meats and dairy products in the country as well as their reprocessing and in ensuring the effectiveness of works directed at the promotion of food industry, an important guide for action is the resolution of the head of our state “On Measures to Further Perfect the Organization of Management and Development of Food Industry of the Republic in 2012-2015” signed 31 October 2011. In accordance with this resolution, measures are taken in the construction of new enterprises and the reconstruction and modernization of the existing ones. For 9 montsh of 2013, the enterprises of food industry have produced goods worth 5.8 trillion soums, which is 8.6 percent increase from the similar period of last year. Products exported amounted to 313.6 million US dollars; a 43.5 percent growth has been secured in comparison with the analogous span of the year 2012.

The results of the consistently run reforms in the country have been finding reflection also in the increase of the types and uplifting the quality of goods, which is brightly manifested by this traditional exposition.

“In 2012, our enterprise used to produce 14 types of goods,” says the director of Tashkent-based Sifatli Sut lim ited company Hikmat Abzalov. “Thanks to the extensive opportunities and conditions being created in our country with an aim to develop entrepreneurship, for a brief period of time we launched additionally the production of 8 types of goods. They include bio-kefir and bio-milk with fruit additives. On the very first day of the exhibition, we signed agreements with a number of trade companies for the supply of our products.”

It is noteworthy that the number of foreign companies exposing their products at this exhibition has been expanding from one year to another. This is suggestive of their mounting interest to the Uzbek market.

“Although we are taking part in this exhibition for the first time, we have been cooperating for quite a long time with enterprises from Uzbekistan,” Irina Salatina, representative of the German company Plattenhardt wirth GMBHР in Central Asia, shares her impressions. “For instance, we outfitted a fridge with a capacity of 1,500 tons of melons and fruits in Margilan in 2012. The micro climate maintained in it with the help of cutting-edge technologies allows for a long preservation of such fruits as quince, persimmon, apples, pomegranates, as well as flowers without any damage to the quality.”

The entrepreneurs’ big interest is drawn to the modern technologies and innovations presented at the exhibition by leading manufacturers and suppliers, such as automated systems for shops and supermarkets, devices for storing fruits and vegetables, sorting and packing equipment, freeze chambers, hardware for trade centers and shopping malls, stores, restaurants, bars, hotels, bakeries and laundries.

The exposition “Livestock and Veterinary” is abundant with vitamin nutrient additives for domestic kettle and birds, fish, milking installations, grain choppers and grinders for processing nutrients and other equipment.

Also, a great significance is attached in our country to the development of poultry farming. In particular, within the last two years, more than five hundred poultry farms have been established around the country. In each of the more than forty poultry enterprises under farming enterprises, from 50 thousand to million poultries are nurtured. A broad premise is allocated at the exhibition for the demonstration of high technology equipment for the industrial poultry keeping.

The attractiveness and competitiveness of the goods produced is also dependent on its appearance and package. The equipment to manufacture packaging and advertising means is especially appealing to many visitors of the event.

“The high technological sorting and packaging equipment for greenhouses, the methods of fostering seedlings and processing seeds, fertilizers and agro-chemical means presented here have attracted us to a great extent,” says the head of the farming enterprise “Gulnora Navruz Baraka” Gulnora Jabbarova of Zangiota district in Tashkent region. “We have signed agreements on cooperation with the Dutch company Аweta G&Р and the joint venture Urug' Invect operating in our country.”

In the open pavilion of the exhibition, the participants can familiarize themselves with machinery employed during grain harvesting and processing hay, with the agricultural machinery from the Agromash-holding-Toshkent and Tashkent Tractor Plant, with equipment for gardening and greenhouse farming from the enterprise Agrotechsystem, along with automobiles of the factory MAN Auto Uzbekistan and technical hardware from foreign manufacturers.