The main topic of the discussion was fighting such a negative phenomenon as human trafficking, which has affected many countries of the world community in recent years.

Buckley said that the United States accepted the seriousness and range of this problem. He noted that the two counties were working to counteract this type of crimes. In particular, the Istiqbolli Avlod [Prospective Generation] NGO together with American specialists in this field regularly hold training seminars.

For his part, Uzbek Interior Minister Col Sharafiddinov stressed that although the Uzbek law-enforcement agencies had recently faced this problem, certain ways and methods of fighting human trafficking have already been worked out over the past years.

[Passage omitted: more on the interior agencies’ efforts to prevent human trafficking]

The American side was also very much interested in Qurbonov’s account of training staff members for divisions which deal with the fight against human trafficking. It was also stressed that the training process included both working staff members and young specialists, who are the cadets and students of higher educational establishments of the Uzbek Interior Ministry. Close cooperation has been established with foreign colleagues, in particular, from Russia and Kazakhstan.

Sharafiddinov also detailed the ways of fighting human trafficking that are being worked out today. Thus, at present, two draft laws are being considered at the country’s Oliy Majlis [the Uzbek parliament]. One of them concerns [introducing] changes and amendments to the existing article of the Criminal Code "Recruiting people for exploitation". The aim is to bring this article in line with international legal regulations as much as possible.

Moreover, a draft law "On fighting human trafficking" is being considered at the parliament’s lower house. In parallel to this, a plan for fighting human trafficking has been worked out and submitted to the Cabinet of Ministers for approval.

Moreover, as of January 2008, the Uzbek Interior Ministry started implementing a two-year project: "Improving the penal justice system in the fight against illegal human trafficking in Uzbekistan".

One of the issues which interested the American side was the issue of growing trust in the law-enforcement agencies, which is proved by concrete figures. Thus, if in 2003, about 80 crimes related to recruiting people for sexual and other types of exploitation were investigated, then this figure increased four-fold in 2007 already.

During the meeting, the representatives of the Uzbek Interior Ministry also answered some other questions, which interested the American side. Those who were attending the meeting expressed satisfaction with the substantial and constructive dialogue, which made it possible to exchange views on the topical problem of human trafficking, and expressed the desire for further cooperation.