Uznews.net – US Assistant Secretary of State Robert Blake told a news conference in Tashkent last Wednesday that his country would only be offering advice in respect to the use of child labour in the Uzbek cotton industry.

Blake visited Uzbekistan between 11 and 14 October, and met President Islam Karimov, Foreign Minister Vladimir Norov and other Uzbek government officials and discussed bilateral cooperation with them.

Answering questions from local journalists, Blake took a neutral position on forced child labour in Uzbekistan. Uzbekistan has signed two very important conventions with the International Labour Organisation, it has also issued a decree, and a national action plan on this matter and it is now important I think for those to be implemented,” the US official said.

Some time ago the US Department of Labour recommended cotton trading and processing companies to abstain from using Uzbek cotton the production of which involves child labour.

However, Blake made it clear that cotton was not the only sphere for bilateral cooperation between the USA and Uzbekistan.

“Uzbekistan has a large market, a well educated population and the opportunity for American companies to export to other parts of the region,” he said.

He also noted that he had achieved understanding on annual consultations on all aspects of bilateral relations.

“I conveyed an invitation from the United States government to the government of Uzbekistan to send a high level delegation at the time of their choosing to the United States to begin those consultations,” he said.

On the Afghan reconstruction, Robert Blake said that President Karimov “gave us very valuable advice about the situation in Afghanistan”.

However, the US assistance secretary declined to make the details of his meetings with Uzbek officials public. He noted that no additional agreements on cooperation on the Afghan reconstruction had been signed during his visit.