On May 4 as part of the working visit to Tashkent, First Deputy Prime Minister of Kazakhstan, Askar Mamin, met with the President of Uzbekistan, Shavkat Mirziyoyev.

The topical issues of trade and economic cooperation between Kazakhstan and Uzbekistan were discussed at the meeting. President of Uzbekistan, Sh. Mirziyoyev, gave a high appraisal to the Consultative Meeting of the Heads of State of Central Asia, held on March 15 this year in Astana and stressed its role in the further development of regional cooperation.

Askar Mamin noted that "Uzbekistan is Kazakhstan's largest trade partner in Central Asia," emphasizing that the foreign trade turnover between the countries for the I quarter of 2018 increased by 50% compared to the same period last year. Until the end of the year, taking into account the significant potential in increasing mutual trade, it is planned to increase the volume of bilateral trade to $3 billion.

During the meeting, Sh. Mirziyoyev and A. Mamin agreed to hold the I Interregional Forum Kazakhstan-Uzbekistan in Astana, the Regional Economic Forum of Central Asian countries in Tashkent, as well as the First Meeting of the Business Council and the joint business forum in Shymkent.

The parties spoke in favor of raising the level of investment cooperation, implementing joint investment projects with access to the markets of third countries, and also discussed further measures to intensify cooperation in the fields of construction, engineering, transport, logistics, tourism, space and military-engineering sphere.

Within the framework of the visit, the Working Meeting of the Co-chairmen of the Joint Intergovernmental Commission on Bilateral Cooperation between Kazakhstan and Uzbekistan – the First Vice-Premier of Kazakhstan, Askar Mamin, and First Deputy Prime Minister of Uzbekistan, Achilbay Ramatov, was held.

It was noted that trade, economic and investment cooperation between Kazakhstan and Uzbekistan has a systematic basis. Joint trading houses have been established and successfully operate in the main sectors of the economy, such as agriculture, petrochemicals, the pharmaceutical industry, and machine building.

The nomenclature of mutual deliveries has significantly increased, agreements on the implementation of large infrastructure projects have been reached, and interregional cooperation is actively developing.

During the meeting, the parties spoke in favor of holding regular meetings of the Working Group on the development of proposals on mutual increase of trade between the two countries.

The First Deputy Prime Minister of Kazakhstan noted the favorable impact of loosening the excise policy of Uzbekistan on the expansion of bilateral trade and spoke in favor of considering the possibility of further excise reduction on imports of certain goods that have priority export potential for Kazakhstan.

An agreement has been reached that Kazakhstan and Uzbekistan will continue to work together to increase trade turnover by ensuring the supply of Uzbek gas to the south of Kazakhstan in the autumn and winter period, as well as providing the transit of Kazakh gas through the territory of Uzbekistan.

At the initiative of the Kazakh side during the talks, the question of establishing the Center of International Cross-Border Cooperation "Central Asia" (ICBC) on the border of Kazakhstan and Uzbekistan was discussed. The implementation of this project will require appropriate infrastructure in the territory of both states.

During the talks, it was noted that cultural and humanitarian cooperation has a special place in the bilateral relations between Kazakhstan and Uzbekistan. As is known, the Heads of State of Kazakhstan and Uzbekistan, N. Nazarbayev and Sh. Mirziyoyev, declared 2018 the Year of Uzbekistan in Kazakhstan. The parties agreed to continue work on the timely and high-quality implementation of the Action Plan for the Year of Uzbekistan in Kazakhstan.

In addition, the First Deputy Prime Ministers of Kazakhstan and Uzbekistan decided to create a joint Working Group for working out the issue of mutual recognition of visa regimes of both countries for tourists from third countries, who cross the Kazakh-Uzbek border to visit tourist sites along the Great Silk Route, and on the mutual promotion of tourism opportunities of the two countries.

Following the results of the working meeting, the Co-Chairs of the Joint Intergovernmental Commission signed the relevant Protocol.

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