Tashkent, Uzbekistan (UzDaily.com) - Rishtan district, located along the route of the ancient Silk Road, has always been famous for its ceramics and was the center of its production in Central Asia. The traditions of national ceramics continue to develop dynamically, passed down from generation to generation. Today, more than 20 senior craftsmen live and work in Rishtan, as well as about 7 thousand of their students, each of whom provides work for 30 to 50 families - local residents are engaged in painting finished products at home: from household dishes to artistic ceramics. Thus, without significant capital investments based on the unique traditions and skills of Rishtan potters, wide layers of the population are provided with jobs and stable earnings.

The appeal received a prompt response and soon a large-scale investment program for the development of pottery production in the Republic was launched, within the framework of which the construction of a specialized Pottery Production Center, a key coordinating link of this program, began in Rishtan district.

On 29 January, the opening ceremony of the Center was held - the Deputy Prime Minister of the Republic of Uzbekistan S. Umurzakov, the khokim of the Fergana region H. Bozorov, recognized craftsmen of the Rishtan school of pottery, leaders of all 69 mahallas of Rishtan district, as well as local elders took part in the event. and residents.

The center, which also includes a museum, exhibition galleries and a bank branch, covers an area of 1.1 hectares and includes 20 separate complexes, on the ground floor of which are workshops and showrooms, and on the second - living quarters and offices. Each of these complexes was handed over to an experienced master for organizing the production of pottery products and teaching students according to their own individual method, passed down from generation to generation for many centuries.

With a full workload of the Center, 230 new jobs will be created, and about 1200 households will be employed, which will be involved in production, performing individual operations of the technological process at home.

A distinctive advantage of this Center is the cluster approach: a powerful production base, which allows in the near future to significantly increase the volume of production of pottery products that have no analogues in the world, at the same time, it is a platform for transferring skills to young specialists on the basis of the “master-apprentice” principle, capable of initiating a new stage in the further development of the traditions of Rishtan craftsmen, and besides this - a promising direction for the development of the tourism potential of the region. Moreover, as part of the Center's activities, it is planned to introduce a system of stable export of finished products through established distribution channels, including through the creation of a single logistics center and the placement of goods on international trading platforms.

During the visit, the participants of the ceremony had the opportunity to familiarize themselves with the measures taken to organize its activities and samples of national applied art. Responsible managers were given targeted instructions to ensure full utilization of the Center's production facilities, as well as to establish a system of uninterrupted supplies of manufactured products to the domestic and foreign markets.

Also, as part of the event in the format of an open dialogue, the ceremony participants talked with the chairmen of the mahallas of Rishtan district, discussed the practical aspects of further interaction in the light of the implementation of the new initiative “the chairman of the mahalla is a reformer”, the existing issues related to the employment of the population, the current state of communal and social infrastructure and priority measures to address them.