Seamstresses request the establishment of a separate department for working with them at the Ministry of Economic Development
At a meeting of the "Ala-Too" parliamentary group dedicated to the issues of the garment industry, he shared the difficulties faced by local garment workers.
According to him, currently, the majority of sales are conducted through marketplaces.
“Since 2003, a patent system for garment workers has been in place in Kyrgyzstan, but it was abolished in 2023. Over the past 20 years, 9,800 garment production facilities have been opened. This year, the marketplace Wildberries began collaborating with Kyrgyz garment workers, allowing 23,000 individual entrepreneurs to register on the platform. Additionally, 7,000 people registered on Ozon. In 2023, the owner of Wildberries visited Kyrgyzstan, where she met with Akylbek Japarov and requested land for a logistics center. Meanwhile, in Uzbekistan, a distribution center covering 100,000 square meters is already under construction and is set to open in 2026,” noted Kerimbek uulu.
He added that neither garment workers nor the authorities of Kyrgyzstan were prepared for the situation that arose in Russia last autumn, emphasizing the need for closer cooperation between entrepreneurs and government bodies to address pressing issues.
“The textile industry ranks third in exports after Kumtor and agriculture. Uzbekistan has established a separate ministry for the light and textile industry. We believe that Kyrgyzstan also needs a separate department within the Ministry of Economy that will address issues related to the garment industry and ensure centralized information gathering,” he added.
In the autumn of 2025, it became known that changes in Russian requirements led to a number of problems for Kyrgyz garment workers. Difficulties with exporting products to Russia were also discussed in the Ministry of Economy and Commerce.
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