Accompanying the Chief Executive on a Central Asia Visit – Second Stop: "The Platinum Country" Uzbekistan

From June 1 to 3, Xue Jingli, Chairman of Consinee Group, successfully completed the visit to Kazakhstan as a member of the trade delegation led by John Lee Jiachao, Chief Executive of the Hong Kong Special Administrative Region, and finalized multiple cooperation intentions. Following the conclusion of the Kazakhstan visit, the delegation proceeded to the second stop of the Central Asia tour — Uzbekistan, and officially launched the business visit to Tashkent from June 4 to 5. Chairman Xue conducted in-depth docking meetings with the Deputy Prime Minister of Uzbekistan and representatives of local government and business circles, and established a full-industrial-chain cooperation layout based on Uzbekistan's resource endowment, writing a new chapter in Silk Road industrial cooperation under the Belt and Road Initiative.

Endowed with Unique Advantages: Uzbekistan, a Gold Mine of Natural Fiber in Central Asia

As the most populous country in Central Asia, Uzbekistan boasts a solid foundation for its animal husbandry industry. The output value of animal husbandry accounts for 33% to 35% of the country's total agricultural output. It owns 16 million hectares of natural grasslands, with only 10% of the grasslands currently developed and utilized, leaving abundant room for breeding development. The national stock of goats and sheep exceeds 25 million head, with an annual output of 150 tons of high-quality cashmere, and the total annual output of all types of wool and cashmere reaches approximately 40,000 tons. However, the deep processing rate of local raw materials is only 15%, and most raw materials are exported as primary products, leaving enormous potential for industrial chain value addition and intelligent upgrading. This makes Uzbekistan a scarce high-quality raw material producing area for the global high-end cashmere industry. Leveraging the policy dividends of the Belt and Road Initiative, Uzbekistan has continued to expand opening-up, promoted digital economic reform, and continuously optimized its business environment. In addition, the implementation of multiple favorable policies including the 30-day mutual visa exemption agreement between China and Uzbekistan, the initialling of the air transport agreement, and Uzbekistan's plan to establish a consulate general in Hong Kong has brought more convenience to personnel and trade exchanges between the two sides, and fully opened a window for cooperation.

Decades of In-depth Cultivation: Consinee Has Profound Historical Ties with Uzbekistan

As a wholly Hong Kong-funded leading enterprise in high-end textiles with its headquarters based in Hong Kong and intelligent manufacturing base located in Ningbo, Consineehas grown into a world-leading intelligent manufacturing enterprise of high-end Cashmere Yarn since its founding in 1999. Its annual output of high-quality pure cashmere exceeds 3,000 tons, accounting for more than 25% of the global market share of high-quality cashmere raw materials, and 85% of its products are directly supplied to European and American luxury brands. For many years, Uzbekistan has been a core raw material procurement base forConsinee. The Group maintains long-term stable procurement of more than 50% of Uzbekistan's high-quality cashmere raw materials, making it one of the most important foreign investment partners for the local cashmere industry. Relying on the closed-loop business model of "Hong Kong capital + mainland intelligent manufacturing + Central Asian raw materials + global sales", Consinee has long included Uzbekistan into the key layout of its global raw material supply chain.

Meeting and Discussion with Deputy Prime Minister: Advancing from Raw Material Procurement to Full-Chain In-depth Cooperation

At the high-level government-enterprise seminar attended by the Deputy Prime Minister of Uzbekistan, Chairman Xue delivered an address, pointing out that Consinee's cooperation with Uzbekistan will depart from the traditional single raw material procurement mode, and fully implement a full-industrial-chain layout covering improved variety breeding, scientific breeding, ecological management and protection of grasslands, local deep processing, construction of intelligent factories and supporting overseas warehouses. According to this plan, the enterprise will export advanced production technology to Uzbekistan by leveraging its own advantages in digital intelligent manufacturing, fill the gap of local cashmere deep processing, promote the transformation of Uzbekistan's local raw materials from exporting low-end primary products to exporting high-end finished products, and increase the added value of the industrial chain. Meanwhile, by leveraging the "super connector" positioning of Hong Kong and the cooperation opportunities brought by the Belt and Road Initiative, Consinee will coordinate Central Asian fiber resources, and is committed to building a benchmark for high-end natural textile industry in Central Asia together with Uzbekistan.

Chief Executive John Lee's Central Asia visit has yielded fruitful results. China and Uzbekistan have reached multiple cooperation agreements, with the total volume of economic and trade cooperation exceeding 1.65 billion US dollars, and cooperation channels have been opened up in an all-round way covering culture, people-to-people exchanges, aviation and trade. Riding on the momentum of friendly cooperation between the two sides, Consinee will continue to increase investment in the Uzbekistan market. Based on the high-quality grassland resources of Uzbekistan and the Group's top intelligent manufacturing strength, the two sides will realize complementary advantages and mutual benefit. Consinee will practice the Belt and Road Initiative through industrial development, and connect the whole industrial chain from the Central Asian grasslands to the global luxury goods market.