From the Secretariat                                                                                 

                   
76^th PLENARY MEETING OF THE
INTERNATIONAL COTTON ADVISORY COMMITTEE
Tashkent, Uzbekistan
October 22-27, 2017
 
Cotton in the Era of Globalization and Technological Progress
 
Technical Tours
October 27-29, 2017
 
In addition to the business part of the 76^th Plenary Meeting, the hosts are organizing three tours that will combine sightseeing with visits to cotton industry infrastructure. These “technical tours” will take place during the weekend following the meeting. The tours will feature visits to historical sites at each destination, along with stops at farms, gins, a textile mill, the fiber quality testing laboratories of Sifat, and cotton storage and load-out facilities.
 
The three destinations are Khiva, Bukhara and Samarkand.
 

• Khiva is located about 1,000 kilometers West of Tashkent along the lower reaches of the Amu-Darya River. It was part of the Persian Empire centuries ago. Itchan Kala, an ancient town within the current city of Khiva, was the first site in Uzbekistan to be listed as a World Heritage Site.

• Bukhara is located along the Silk Road about 600 kilometers from Tashkent. Bukhara is described as a city-museum, with about 140 architectural monuments. Most people in Bukhara speak Persian. The historic center of Bukhara is a World Heritage Site.

• Samarkand is about 300 kilometers from Tashkent. Alexander the Great took Samarkand in 329 BC, and the Mongols under Genghis Khan captured the city in 1220. Samarkand was the capital of the empire of Timur under Tamerlane in the 14^th century. UNESCO listed the city as a World Heritage Site in 2001.

 
The cost of each tour includes two nights hotel in a single room, three lunches and two dinners, tickets for all excursions, English-language tour guides and transportation in comfortable 50-seat passenger buses.
 
The cost of each tour will be:

• Khiva, US$160 x person
• Bukhara, US$200 per person
• Samarkand, US$240 per person

The attached form must be filled out and be sent directly to the Uzbek Organizing Committee to x.alimov@uzpex.uz by September 1, 2017
                        
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The Secretariat of the Committee publishes information related to world cotton production, supply, demand and prices, and provides technical information on cotton production technology. Detailed statistics are found bimonthly in COTTON: Review of the World Situation, $200 per year via email, $245 per year in hard copy. A monthly outlook is available by email for $320 per year. Access to the latest weekly estimates of world cotton supply and use by the Secretariat is available on the Internet for $490 per year. Access Secretariat reports at http://www.icac.org.