Uzbeks Seek Closer UK Trade Ties

The Uzbek government will use an annual meeting with British officials to seek assistance for the agricultural sector, analysts say.

The December 9 meeting of the Uzbek-British Trade and Industry Council will take place in the capital Tashkent.

An official from Uzbekistan’s foreign economic relations ministry said the government was keen to access western technologies to revive the farming sector.

"Britain’s Plant Breeding Institute [John Innes Centre] and the Institution of Environmental Sciences count among the world’s leading research centres and their expertise would be useful to us," he said.

A member of the upper house of Uzbekistan’s parliament said opportunities for selling more cotton would be explored at the meeting. Uzbek cotton exports have in recent years been hit by a boycott by leading clothes manufacturers and retailers, imposed because of the used of child labour on cotton plantations.

Uzbekistan regards Britain as a major trading and economic partner.

This article was produced as part of IWPR’s News Briefing Central Asia output, funded by the National Endowment for Democracy.