The 9th ECOSA International Seed Congress in Tashkent brought together nearly 400 delegates from Economic Cooperation Organization (ECO) member states to establish a unified regional seed market. Marked by the landmark Tashkent Declaration and the signing of two strategic MoUs with Uzbekistan, the event pivoted from high-level diplomacy to concrete commercial deals across Central Asia.
The 9th International Seed Congress, hosted by the Ministry of Agriculture of Uzbekistan and coordinated by the Economic Cooperation Organization Seed Association (ECOSA), concluded in Tashkent with a clear mandate to harmonize seed regulations, align certification standards, and dismantle cross-border trade barriers across the ECO geography. Bringing together senior ministry officials, public research institutes, international bodies such as ISTA and OECD, and private agribusinesses, the assembly addressed urgent threats to regional food security driven by climate volatility.
Opening the summit, Uzbek Agriculture Minister Ibrokhim Abdurakhmanov highlighted how Uzbekistan’s expanding agricultural cluster model is driving aggressive demand for certified seed genetics. Emphasizing that high-yield crop varieties underpin national food sovereignty, Abdurakhmanov urged member states to facilitate cross-border variety exchange, launch joint adaptation trials, and standardize seed analysis protocols.
Uzbek Agriculture Minister Ibrokhim Abdurakhmanov
Complementing this operational push, ECOSA Chairman Yıldıray Gençer underscored the continent-scale potential of the ECO region—home to 600 million people and 110 million hectares of arable land—arguing that current intra-regional seed trade volumes fail to reflect its true capacity. Gençer called for integrating seed commodities into the Economic Cooperation Organization Trade Agreement (ECOTA), eliminating duplicate quarantine checks, and removing technical trade barriers.
The congress progressed beyond policy dialogue into direct commercial execution. During the inaugural ceremony, ECOSA executed two strategic MoUs with Uzbekistan’s Center for Seed Production Development and the Center for Evaluation of Agricultural Product Quality. On the commercial floor, intensive B2B matchmaking sessions linked Turkish, Azerbaijani, Kazakh, and Pakistani seed suppliers directly with Uzbek agricultural production clusters. These negotiations culminated in preliminary commercial contracts for hybrid corn, oilseed sunflower, certified wheat, and greenhouse vegetable seeds. Concurrently, Turkish machinery manufacturers secured technology transfer and equipment supply agreements for modern seed cleaning, sorting, treatment, and packaging facilities in Uzbekistan.
The congress finalized with the adoption of the Tashkent Declaration, titled "Becoming a Regional Power in Seed Production." The blueprint establishes a nine-point roadmap: launching a regional digital info-sharing platform, aligning seed legislation with international codes, creating an ECO Joint Variety Catalog, establishing an ECOSA Regional Certification System, deploying joint trial plots for performance testing, including seeds in preferential trade agreements, and instituting joint workforce training programs.
ABOUT ECOSA AND REGIONAL MEMBER STATES
Established in 2009 to facilitate seamless seed trade across the ECO zone, the Economic Cooperation Organization Seed Association (ECOSA) acts as a non-political, non-profit umbrella body representing seed sector interests. ECOSA comprises ten member nations: Turkey, Uzbekistan, Azerbaijan, Pakistan, Iran, Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Tajikistan, Turkmenistan, and Afghanistan. The association focuses on protecting intellectual property rights, advancing modern plant breeding technologies, harmonizing regulatory frameworks with international ISTA and OECD standards, and resolving trade disputes to ensure regional food security.
