The 21st meeting of the Joint Intergovernmental Commission on Bilateral Cooperation was held in Almaty under the chairmanship of the Prime Ministers of Kazakhstan and Uzbekistan Olzhas Bektenov and Abdulla Aripov. 

The sides exchanged views on topical issues on the bilateral agenda ahead of the official visit of Uzbek President Shavkat Mirziyoyev to Kazakhstan and reviewed the pace of implementation of agreements between the two heads of state. In particular, they discussed the status of projects aimed at strengthening trade and economic, investment, water and energy cooperation, interaction in transport, industry, agriculture, ecology and digitalisation.

Kazakhstan and Uzbekistan account for 57% of all trade in Central Asia. At the end of last year, trade turnover between the countries totalled $4.5 billion, and for 4 months of 2024 the volume exceeded $1.2 billion.

Industrial cooperation envisages the implementation of 69 projects worth $3.1 billion with the creation of more than 14.7 thousand jobs. As of today, 12 joint projects worth $217 million have already been successfully implemented with the creation of about 4.5 thousand jobs. Currently, 3 investment projects worth $178 million are being implemented. One of the major projects is an electrometallurgical plant with a capacity of 500 thousand tonnes of steel products in the city of Taraz.

Implementation of the project for construction of the International Centre for Industrial Cooperation "Central Asia" with the area of 100 hectares in the territories of Turkestan region of Kazakhstan and Syrdarya region of Uzbekistan will create additional stimulating conditions for joint productions.

In the field of mechanical engineering, Kazakhstan and Uzbekistan will expand cooperation to increase the volume of mutual supplies of electrical products and batteries on an annual basis.

The increase in freight turnover is facilitated by measures taken to expand interconnections in the transport sector, develop railway infrastructure and eliminate bottlenecks. In this regard, the parties expressed joint interest in the implementation of the Darbaza-Maktaaral, Almaty Ring Road and Dostyk station projects.

Taking into account the impact of the water sector on the countries' livelihoods, instruments for further strengthening of co-operation have been worked out. In particular, joint steps on digitalisation and automation of water distribution sites in the territories of the two countries.

"Uzbekistan is one of the largest trade partners of Kazakhstan. The Heads of the two governments have set a task to bring the volume of mutual trade to $10 billion in the medium term. In this direction, we are interested in increasing trade in agro-industrial complex and food industry, as well as raising the level of industrial cooperation," Olzhas Bektenov stressed.

In turn, Abdulla Aripov noted that relations between Kazakhstan and Uzbekistan have been rapidly developing in recent years in the spirit of strategic partnership and alliance. At the same time, there is a huge potential for their further strengthening. 

"Positive growth is observed in all spheres. This fully meets the interests of our brotherly peoples. Undoubtedly, an important factor of such a high level of partnership is the friendly and trusting relations between the Heads of our states. I am confident that today's meeting and the agreements reached will give an additional impetus to our cooperation," Abdulla Aripov said.

The meeting resulted in signing of the Protocol of the 21st session of the Joint Intergovernmental Commission on bilateral cooperation.

For reference: Trade turnover between Kazakhstan and Uzbekistan for 5 years has grown by 29.5% to $4.4 billion. Exports of domestic goods increased by 56.9%: from $2 billion to $3.1 billion. Imports for the period under review decreased by 9.1% to $1.3 billion in 2023.

#Olzhas Bektenov #The Prime Minister of the Republic of Kazakhstan #Energy #Intergovernmental Commission #International Cooperation #Logistics #Trade #Transport #water resources