Tashkent, Uzbekistan (UzDaily.com) -- The Uzcharmsanoat association held a meeting with the head of the Turkish company Derimaksan Hussein Gulmez, who arrived in our country to participate in the 14th international exhibition UzCharmExpo-ShoesStar EurAsia-2023.

During the meeting, the issue of launching a new joint venture for leather processing was discussed. The project is planned to be implemented before the end of this year in the Kitab district of Kashkadarya.

Derimaksan has been producing equipment for tanneries for 35 years. It supplies its technologies to 51 countries. Since 2000, he has been engaged in technical support for tanneries, training of technologists, and construction of tanneries on a turnkey basis.

The project in Kitab district is the first major project with this Turkish company in Uzbekistan. Now the construction work is going on at the enterprise, which will be focused on leather processing. In just eight months, the company will start producing the first product samples. During the meeting, issues related to export-import and exhibition activities were also discussed.

“In the 1990s, Italy and Spain were leaders in leather processing. But by 2005, leadership in this regard had passed to Turkey. At that time there were 1800 leather enterprises. However, now their number has decreased to 1200. Meanwhile, Pakistan and Bangladesh are now leading in this sector. But there are problems in terms of logistics and product quality when purchasing finished leather from these countries. Therefore, Türkiye and the EU countries began to purchase leather goods from Uzbekistan. This means that Uzbekistan will become a leader in the world leather market in the next five years,” said Hussein Gulmez, head of Derimaksan.

In addition, during the negotiations, the Turkish side stated that it plans to establish in Uzbekistan the production of the necessary technologies for leather enterprises. It was noted that the country has enough raw materials and human resources for this. As a result, Uzbekistan will become not only an exporter of leather products, but also a supplier of equipment.

At the end of the dialogue, other issues related to further prospects for bilateral cooperation were also discussed.