D-8 Countries’ Cotton Production and Trade: Synergistic Cooperation with OIC

Istanbul, Turkey | November 13, 2007 by D-8 Secretariat

Istanbul hosts Cotton Investment Forum of Organization of the Islamic Conference (OIC) under coordination of Turkish Industry & Trade Ministry between November 12th and 13th. More than 300 representatives as well as four minister from 25 OIC and D-8 Organization member states, attend the Forum which was inaugurated by Turkish Industry & Trade Minister, Zafer Caglayan.

The forum aims to convene international and national institutions as well as private sector organizations on cotton sector. It targets to develop cotton investment and commerce among OIC and D-8 member states. The forum specifically puts a great importance to COTTON, as the ‘white gold’ that is one of the most important cultivated plants of the world, where approximately 200 million humans in more than 70 countries earn their livelihood from. For some countries, it is a key cash export product and is a major source of foreign exchange and government revenue generator.

OIC and D-8 member states own 29 percent of total world cotton production areas; and nearly 16 million people in these countries are interested and dealing directly in cotton production.

From the D-8 Organization, the biggest cotton producer is Pakistan, followed by Turkey. According to the report of International Cotton Advisory Committee, Pakistan ranks the 4th place in the world for cotton producer, while Turkey ranks at the 7th place. However, with the introduction of its “COTTON VISION 2015″, Pakistan targets the cotton production of 20.70 million bales (60% increase over 2005-06) by 2015.

Asian and African countries produce more than 50% of cotton worldwide. Yet, the pressure of high competition at the international level has produced a serious loss of export revenues for them. The lack of skilled labour and capital and high cost of energy and transportation are, in addition to that, among the factors that still impeding the development of sustainable textile industry (processing the raw cotton) in most cotton producing countries where these factors raise the cost of textile production. As a result of, these countries, particularly with small-scale producers loose world markets and suffer deterioration of income and rising poverty. On the other hand, some D-8 producing countries have accumulated vast experience in producing and processing efficiently high quality cotton such as Turkey, Pakistan and Egypt. These countries are expected to be the main locomotive to improve the global position of developing countries, by for example establishing an OIC Cotton Alliance among cotton producers, exporters and industrialists and aiming at coordinating cooperation in various areas related to the cotton sector such as, (1) improving the productivity and yield levels; (2) improving testing and classification of cotton; (3) promoting investment opportunities in cotton sector; (4) Organic cotton production: Turkey is the first OIC country with certification; (5) Low pesticide use: Syria produces 99% of its cotton without pesticides; (6) Biotech varieties; and other related issues.

A glance at the export and import side of cotton, will give a clear view why developing countries still need to roll their sleeves and work hard to keep par with the rest of the world. Among the top 40 cotton-exporting countries in the world, 23 were OIC members: Uzbekistan (2), Burkina Faso (7), Mali (8), Syria (9) and Kazakhstan (10). Yet, their share in world total exports of cotton accounted for 31.3%, which was quite less than that of the USA alone (40.4%).

On the import side, among the top 40 cotton-importing countries in the world, only 11 were OIC members: Turkey (2), Bangladesh (3), Indonesia (4) and Pakistan (7), all of them are also member states of D-8. Yet, their share in world total imports of cotton accounted for 24.3%, which was significantly less than that of China alone (43.8%).

Therefore, as stated by Attiya Nawazish Ali, Assistant Secretary General for Coordination of Islamic Chamber of Commerce and Industry, in her speech at the forum, given this state of affairs and considering the important role and strategic place of cotton sector in the OIC/D-8 member countries, there is an urgent need for seeking ways and means to stimulate cooperation among the member countries in the cotton sector bearing in mind that “we need to do more to make trade work for the poor.”

D-8 Secretary General, Dipo Alam, supports this view and confirmed this in line with the result of talks he had with OIC Secretary General, Prof. Ekmeleddin Ihsanoglu, in Jeddah last September that with their huge potential, OIC/D-8 countries should keep up formulating, and sharping the medium and long term strategies in which trade and investment in member states’ Cotton Producing Countries could develop and grow, and that can be translated into concrete actions that are likely to create synergistic conditions for boosting the existing industrial capacities and infrastructures, promoting foreign direct investments and developing industrial, financial, commercial and technical partnership among the member countries.

“In the 24th D-8 commissioner meeting in November 23-24 in Yogyakarta, we will call for the member states to follow up results or decision taken in this cotton forum,” said Dipo Alam. He also underlined that the organization shall discuss cotton issues in depth in the D-8 Working Group in industry, and wish to intensify cooperation with OIC for the mutual benefit of cotton producer member countries.

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