"There are very good opportunities in Uzbekistan for the US trade and investment activities," Robert Blake told a news conference in Tashkent on 14 October 2009.

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

Blake said: “That’s why we’ve seen companies such as General Motor establish operations here and we will explore ways that we can expose more American companies to the opportunities here.”

Robert Blake said that an agreement had been reached to hold annual meetings of the Uzbek-American intergovernmental commission to coordinate all aspects of bilateral cooperation.

The US diplomat said that he had brought Washington’s invitation to Tashkent to send a high-level government delegation from Uzbekistan to the USA to hold the first meeting of the intergovernmental commission.