On July 10-13, 2018, the delegation of Turkmenistan held negotiations in Beijing in the course of which cooperation in the agricultural sector was on the agenda.
The working visit was organized within the framework of fulfilling President Gurbanguly Berdymukhammedov’s instructions on attracting foreign investments into the Turkmen agro-industrial complex, increasing the export of agricultural products and intensifying the partnership, Turkmenistan’s Foreign Ministry reports.
Turkmenistan’s delegations held meetings in China’s Ministry of Commerce where the sides discussed the export of Turkmen cotton and cotton products.
In the course of negotiations the head of the Department for Eurasian Affairs of the Ministry of Commerce of China Ma Chi emphasized that China welcomes the export of agricultural products from Turkmenistan and will support the investments of Chinese companies into Turkmenistan’s agricultural sector.
The bilateral talks with executives of China’s major companies including China textile Corporation Limited, China National Cotton Group Corporation and commodity exchange China National Cotton Exchange were held.
The Ministry of Foreign Affairs report that Chinese companies expressed willingness to participate in the investment projects of Turkmenistan’s agricultural sector and the agreement was reached to carry out joint activities to introduce state-of-the-art technology into the manufacturing of agricultural produce.
Let us recall that in May 208 the US the US authorities imposed a ban on the importation of all Turkmenistan cotton, or products produced with Turkmen cotton.
The reason behind the ban is that cotton and cotton products from Turkmenistan are made using forced or child labour.
Quite a few of the largest world brands including IKEA, H&M, Wrangler, Lee, Zara had previously refused to procure cotton from Turkmenistan for the same reasons.