The full range of products cultivated in the fields and gardens of Uzbekistan was presented at the maiden edition of the International Fruit and Vegetable fair, which opened on November 8 in Tashkent’s UzExpoCentre.

Delegations of some 31 countries arrived in Tashkent to get acquainted with the country's potential in growing fruits and vegetables.

"The main priorities of the fair - familiarize the visitors with the potential of Uzbekistan’s agriculture and building strong partnerships with foreign processing companies and importers," - the Deputy Prime Minister Ulugbek Rozukulov said at the opening ceremony.

In first nine months of this year over 15 million tons of fruits and vegetables were grown in Uzbekistan, of which about 10 million tons of vegetables, 2 million tons of fruits, 1.2 million tons of grapes and 1.5 million tons of melons.

This year a five-year program was adopted aimed at extending the raw material base, processing of fruits and vegetables, meat and dairy products, creation of trade and logistics centers and cold storage facilities, as well as an increase in food production.

The program foresees the implementation of 80 promising projects for deep processing of agricultural products with the establishment of production facilities for 345 thousand tons of finished products, as well as creation of new cold storage chambers with 325 thousand ton capacity.

Under the 2017-2018 program of deep processing and creation of additional capacities for storage of horticultural products it is planned to implement 254 investment projects with the creation of 76 processing plants, construction of 155 refrigerators and commissioning of 23 package manufacturing facilities.

The projects will be implemented in 66 rural areas in Uzbekistan, specializing in the cultivation of fruits, vegetables and grapes. As a result, it is planned to increase the processing of fruits and vegetables in the country from 18% to almost 30%.