The III Forum of Interregional Cooperation of Kazakhstan and Uzbekistan is being held in Turkestan
The III Forum of Interregional Cooperation of Kazakhstan and Uzbekistan with the participation of heads of government on the topic "Cross-border cooperation as new growth points" has started in Turkestan.
It is expected that tomorrow the prime ministers of the two countries will discuss topical issues of the development of trade and economic cooperation.
Today, as part of the first day of the Forum, meetings of representatives of the business community of the two countries are taking place. More than 40 B2B meetings have already been held.
It is expected that as a result of the negotiations, contracts worth more than 200 million US dollars will be concluded.
The trade turnover between Kazakhstan and Uzbekistan for 9 months of 2021 amounted to 2,886.9 million US dollars, which is 28.5% higher than the same level in 2020.. Of these, 2,098.2 million US dollars are exports of goods from Kazakhstan (an increase of 30.1%).
The main goods of Kazakhstan's export to Uzbekistan are: semi-finished products made of unalloyed steel, flat rolled products made of unalloyed steel, passenger cars, copper concentrates, agricultural products (wheat, flour, soybean oil, etc.)
The main import goods from Uzbekistan are fresh fruits and berries, bricks and building blocks for floors, ceramic products, ethylene polymers.
We remind you that on Monday, November 22, 2021, 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 - the 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 Abdulla 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). An agreement was reached on the industrial orientation of this Center, which will allow the development of industrial cooperation between the two countries. 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" and the "Khorgos" MCPS 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 parties also discussed the removal of barriers in mutual trade and cooperation between Kazakhstan and Uzbekistan in the transport industry, including the railway sector
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.