The Minister of Trade of the Republic of Kazakhstan held a number of meetings in Uzbekistan

In preparation for the State visit of the President of the Republic of Uzbekistan Mirziyoyev Sh.M. to the Republic of Kazakhstan, a working trip of the Minister of Trade and Integration - Special Representative of the President of the Republic of Kazakhstan for Uzbekistan Sultanov B.T. to the Republic of Uzbekistan took place.

Key issues of bilateral trade and economic relations were discussed at a meeting with Prime Minister of Uzbekistan Abdullah Aripov, as well as with Deputy Prime Minister of the Republic of Uzbekistan - Minister of Investment and Foreign Trade of Kazakhstan Sardor Umurzakov, Minister of Transport of Uzbekistan Ilkhom Makhkamov and Minister of Agriculture of Kazakhstan Zhamshid Khodzhayev.

The participants identified increasing the volume of mutual trade to $10 billion as one of the priorities for joint work.

The parties discussed the implementation of the project of the International Center for Trade and Economic Cooperation "Central Asia" (ICTES).

- We consider this center as a single ecosystem of trade and industrial hubs on the border of Kazakhstan and Uzbekistan and a key hub of cargo flows in the Central Asian region, - said Bakhyt Sultanov.

In addition, an agreement was reached on the industrial orientation of this Center, which will allow the development of industrial cooperation between the two countries.

The parties noted the need to reach final agreements, which will be recorded in the relevant documents during the visit of the President of the Republic of Uzbekistan to Nur-Sultan.

In order to achieve the maximum economic effect of the ICTES and in order to integrate with the North-SOUTH, Western Europe – Western China transport corridors, the Kazakh side proposed to ensure the interface of the ICTES with the Alatau TTC and the Khorgos ICBC on the territory of the Republic of Kazakhstan, as well as the Termez MCT on the Uzbek-Afghan border and the planned similar border centers on the borders of Uzbekistan with Kyrgyzstan and Turkmenistan.

During the meetings of the Minister of Trade and Integration of the Republic of Kazakhstan - the Special Representative of the President of the Republic of Kazakhstan for Uzbekistan, it was also stated that the implementation of the ICTES project is particularly relevant as part of the promotion of the initiative to create a Eurasian distribution network for the joint supply of Kazakh and Uzbek goods to large markets of third countries, as well as saturation of their own markets during the off-season.

During the meetings, the issue of construction of additional 3 ORCS on the territory of Uzbekistan at the expense of investors from Kazakhstan, as well as the possibility of creating an ORC by Uzbek business in the northern regions of the Republic of Kazakhstan was discussed.

Another agreement reached was the decision to work together on the formation of Agroexpress. Kazakhstan and Uzbekistan plan to coordinate their actions to achieve the maximum mutually beneficial effect. The parties also expressed interest in signing foreign contracts for the supply of early crops to stabilize domestic demand during the off-season.

During the meetings, the parties also discussed the work on removing barriers in mutual trade. Bakhyt Sultanov drew attention to the need to unify the Rules for determining the country of origin of CIS goods, which will positively affect the increase in mutual trade between the two countries and will allow even faster to reach the $10 billion mark.

Cooperation between Kazakhstan and Uzbekistan in the transport industry, including the railway sector, was also discussed. Kazakhstan welcomes the entry of the Republic of Uzbekistan into the Trans-Caspian International Transport Route as associate members.

During the upcoming visit of the President of the Republic of Uzbekistan, the Parties discussed the possibility of holding an interregional cooperation forum and a business forum.

As previously reported, the state visit of the President of the Republic of Uzbekistan Mirziyoyev Sh.M. to the Republic of Kazakhstan is expected before the end of 2021.