zbekistan has completed this season's cotton harvest having produced 3.005 million tonnes, or 77 percent of the targeted volume, an agriculture ministry official said on Thursday.

Officials earlier said heavy unseasonal rains in autumn had hit the crop, which was likely to fall to 3.2 million tonnes as compared to the 2000 target of 3.9 million.

The rains came after a summer of blistering heat and the worst drought in a century. Of the 1.4 million hectares of cotton sown, 30,000 hectares perished because of a lack of water, particularly in the desert Karakalpakstan region.

The Central Asian state produced 3.6 million tonnes of raw cotton last year, giving a cotton fibre output of 1.02 million tonnes. Cotton exports were valued at $883.7 million last year, or 27 percent of total export earnings. (Reuters, November 16)

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iman Bangladesh Airlines and Uzbekistan Airways signed an agreement of a joint freighter service in the city recently. General manager Cargo, Biman Jahangir Imam and commercial director, Uzbekistan Airways Ismail Salimov signed the agreement on behalf of their respective airlines, says a press release.Now onward Uzbekistan Airways will operate cargo flights twice in a week to carry cargo specially ready-made garments from DAC to destinations of CIS, Middle East, Europe and America which will help the garments exporters in Bangladesh to delivery their goods to the buyers in time. Biman and Uzbekistan Airways planned to start this joint freighter service from first week of December 2000. (Economic Reporter )

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he Uzbek-British Trade and Industry Council began a regular meeting in Tashkent on 15th November. This meeting, which started its work in the Intercontinental Hotel, is the eighth since the setting up of the Council. It is worth noting that such meetings are held regularly. This is important in terms of deepening bilateral trade and economic relations.

Uzbek Deputy Prime Minister Valeriy Otayev delivered an opening speech, in which he pointed out that there was still much room for developing economic relations between the two states and that the existing potential should be used.

Speaking about economic opportunities, the co-chairman of the Uzbek-British Trade and Industry Council, Hartley Booth, said, among other things, the following: "Every time we speak about Uzbekistan I am more and more convinced that Uzbekistan has great economic potential, the Council's co-chairman, Hartley Booth, said at the beginning of an interview.

"I believe that each participant in today's meeting will make their own contribution to the development of bilateral cooperation. Before this meeting, I met British businessmen. They said they had been benefiting from working in Uzbekistan. Of course, our progress depends on you, too. If some of our firms achieve success here, others will also come.

"I would like to stress one thing in particular: We proposed a project to develop economic partnership, and it was approved by your side. The sides will equally benefit from the project. We have been closely following the process of the liberalization of the Uzbek economy, and I hope that our bilateral cooperation will have its own place in boosting the Uzbek economy and promoting our relations."

This afternoon, the delegation led by Hartley Booth held talks at the Uzbek Foreign Ministry. The talks were attended by the British ambassador to Uzbekistan and the Uzbek ambassador to Great Britain. The delegation is scheduled to visit [the eastern region of] Fergana tomorrow. (Uzbek radio, 15th November)

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he fight against drug trafficking is constantly being carried out in Uzbekistan. A drug-dealing offence was prevented yesterday [15th November] in the town of Bekabad in Tashkent Region. An inspector of the patrol service of the Bekabad police's state automobile inspectorate, Ghofir Hasanov, was on duty. He had doubts about a Nexia car bearing the numberplate 11G 2564.

An offence was discovered. Over two kilograms of heroin, were found in a plastic bag in the car's front right-hand door. Criminal proceedings have been instituted against a driver from Bekabad.

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zbek security guards on the Uzbek-Tajik border have foiled an attempt by a Tajik woman to smuggle over 0.5 kg of heroin into Uzbekistan, the Uzbek newspaper 'Khalq Sozi' reported on 15th November.

When Lutfiya Hasanova, a mother of five, was stopped at a border post in the southern Uzbek District of Uzun and subjected to a body search, she was found to have been carrying 553.1 grams of heroin tied round her waist and private parts, the newspaper report said.

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