ASTANA:Kazakhstan and Uzbekistan agreed to boost their mutual cooperation. The agreement came after a meeting of the trade ministers of both countries, Arman Shakkaliev and Laziz Kudratov. They talked about how to implement the roadmaps they signed during President Tokayev’s visit to Uzbekistan in December 2022. One of the goals is to raise the trade volume between the two countries to $10 billion.
They also discussed transit and transport issues, border infrastructure, cross-border and regional cooperation, and the upcoming fourth Forum of Interregional Cooperation between Kazakhstan and Uzbekistan. The Kazakh delegation toured Tashkent’s technopark, which has more than 20 high-tech and export-oriented businesses. They explored the potential for more industrial and business cooperation between the two countries.
Last May, a trade mission of Kazakh goods and service providers in Tashkent led to export deals worth over $44.1 million. They supplied construction materials, confectionery, IT services, and dairy products to Uzbekistan. The International Center for Industrial Cooperation – Central Asia industrial zone, set up on the border of Kazakhstan and Uzbekistan last month, aims to increase the export of Kazakh products to the Uzbek market. In the first 11 months of 2023, the trade volume between Kazakhstan and Uzbekistan reached $4.1 billion.
