Working meeting was held between the Ambassador of Kazakhstan to Uzbekistan Beibut Atamkulov with the Minister of Transport of Uzbekistan Ilhom Makhkamov

On March 8, 2024, a working meeting was held between the Ambassador Extraordinary and Plenipotentiary of the Republic of Kazakhstan to the Republic of Uzbekistan Beibut Atamkulov with the Minister of Transport of the Republic of Uzbekistan Ilhom Makhkamov.

The parties discussed the results of work for 2023 and the implementation of the road map in the transit, transport and logistics spheres, signed following the state visit of the President of the Republic of Kazakhstan K.K. Tokayev to Uzbekistan in December 2022.

The dynamics of growth in the volume of rail and road freight transportation was noted.

For reference:

The total volume of railway cargo transportation between the Republic of Kazakhstan and the Republic of Uzbekistan amounted to 31.4 million tons (+17.2% or 26.8 million tons by 2022).

- exports from Kazakhstan – 13.7 million tons (+17.7% or 11.6 million tons by 2022): grain, coal, ferrous metals, petroleum products, flour, cement;

- imports to Kazakhstan -1.3 million tons (-33.1% or 2 million tons by 2022): construction materials, non-ferrous ore, chemicals;

- transit through Kazakhstan – 16.3 million tons (+24.8% or 13 million tons by 2022).

The total volume of road transport in 2023 amounted to 3.8 million tons, which increased by 6% compared to 2022 (0.2 million tons).

- exports from Kazakhstan – 890 thousand tons (+85.2% or 480 thousand tons by 2022);

- imports to Kazakhstan –912.7 thousand tons (-25.3% or 1.2 million tons by 2022);

- transit through Kazakhstan – 2 million tons (+5% or 1.9 million tons by 2022).

Current issues of freight rail and road transport, the need to develop uniform standards of requirements for ensuring the safety of passenger road transport on international routes between the cities of Kazakhstan and Uzbekistan, the resumption of air services in the direction of Almaty-Nukus, Aktobe-Nukus, as well as the opening of new connections between tourist centers of the Republic of Kazakhstan were discussed and RU Turkestan-Samarkand, Turkestan-Bukhara and Turkestan-Urgench.

For reference: currently there are 25 flights per week between the cities of Kazakhstan and Uzbekistan.

- Astana – Tashkent, 8 flights (Fly Arystan – 3, Uzbekistan Airways – 5);

- Almaty – Tashkent, 17 flights (Air Astana – 7, Uzbekistan Airways – 10).

Issues of ensuring high-quality access roads to border checkpoints were considered.

In conclusion, taking into account the annual growth of trade and commodity turnover, and transit cargo transportation, as well as the expected increase in trade turnover to 10 billion US dollars between Kazakhstan and Uzbekistan, the parties noted the need to expand and improve the transport infrastructure between the states.