WASHINGTON, Oct 1, 2008 (AFP) - US retail giant Wal-Mart said Wednesday it will stop buying cotton from Uzbekistan until it has confirmation that the former Soviet republic has taken steps to end forced child labor in the cotton fields.

'Wal-Mart Stores, Inc has instructed its global supply base to cease sourcing cotton and cotton materials from Uzbekistan,' the world's largest retailer said in a statement posted on its website.

'There is no tolerance for forced child labor in the Wal-Mart supply chain,' Rajan Kamalanathan, Wal-Mart vice president for ethical standards said.

The boycott will be lifted once Wal-Mart has independent confirmation that the Uzbek government is enforcing rules outlined in an action plan released last month, which would bring an end to child labor in the central Asian country, Wal-Mart said.

In mid-September, the government in Tashkent 'worked out an action plan to eliminate all forms of child labor and a special working group has been set up to monitor and control the situation so that school children stay out of cotton fields,' an Uzbek official told AFP.

The action plan was signed by Uzbek Prime Minister Shavkat Mirziyayev, who 'has warned all local officials about the serious consequences of mobilizing school children to harvest cotton,' the official, who asked not to be named, added.

Uzbekistan, the third largest producer of cotton in the world, had never previously acknowledged using child labor in the cotton fields.

In August, Wal-Mart teamed up with US trade groups representing the footwear and apparel industry, retailers, and textile and clothing importers, to send a letter to the Uzbek embassy in Washington, protesting the use of forced child labor in harvesting cotton.

The cotton harvest in Uzbekistan began around three weeks ago.