Tashkent, Jun 30 (IANS): Uzbek President Shavkat Mirziyoyev has directed the government to generate an additional $9 billion in revenue per year by processing yarn into finished products and attracting foreign brands, the President's press service said.

The Uzbek leader set a goal to attract 50 popular foreign brands to the country's textile industry and announced new subsidies and incentives for exporters of textile products, Xinhua news agency reported.

Mirziyoyev said on Wednesday that after an international boycott on Uzbek cotton was lifted early this year, foreign companies have been showing great interest in products produced in Uzbekistan.

"If (foreign) brands are not brought to our regions, it will be difficult for domestic products to compete in the world market," he added.

Since 2016, the country's volume of textile production has increased by five times, and exports by four times, reaching almost $3 billion, the press service said, adding that during this time reprocessing of cotton has risen to 100 from 40 per cent.

However, the degree of processing yarn into finished products still remains low at 23 per cent, meaning the industry "is missing a $9 billion opportunity every year," the report said.

Uzbekistan produces around 3 million tonne of cotton annually and plans to increase production by implementing new agricultural technologies, including drip irrigation.