Tashkent, Uzbekistan (UzDaily.com) -- Deputy Minister of Agriculture of the Republic of Uzbekistan Kakhramon Yuldashev met with the heads of departments of the ministry, as well as with the deputy head of the department for child labor, forced labor and human trafficking of the U.S. Department of Labor Margaret Jungk and a responsible officer of the department Sarah Solomon for International Relations.

Here, issues of the implementation of work in the field of sericulture and the state program for the development of this industry, as well as: how the cluster system works in cotton production; how agricultural machinery and technologies are used on cotton sown areas, as well as how Better Cotton Initiatives standards are being implemented in agroclusters were discussed.

To date, the number of cotton clusters in our republic has reached 134.

During the talks, the parties noted that the lifting of the boycott of Uzbek cotton by the CottonCampaign international coalition in 2022 gave strength to create new opportunities in the industry.

At the end of the meeting, the meeting participants outlined plans to expand multilateral cooperation in the agricultural sector.

The Better Cotton Initiative trains farmers to manage water and land resources, maintain soil fertility, prevent the harmful effects of plant protection products, maintain cotton fiber quality, ensure labor safety, use efficient irrigation practices, and reduce the use of chemical fertilizers. It has over a thousand members, including over 80 of the world's biggest brands such as H&M, Gap, IKEA, LeviStrauss, Zara, HugoBoss, Adidas, Puma.