The second meeting of the Supreme Interstate Council of Kazakhstan and Uzbekistan was held in Tashkent on November 15, co-chaired by Kazakh President Kassym-Jomart Tokayev and Uzbek President Shavkat Mirziyoyev.
Mirziyoyev stated that Kazakh-Uzbek relations have now reached the highest level of a strategic partnership and alliance.
The parties discussed new areas of cooperation and ways to utilize bilateral potential, and adopted several decisions that will provide a significant impetus to the expansion of the Kazakh-Uzbek partnership.
Particular attention was paid to ensuring the stable growth of mutual trade, diversifying its structure, and creating favorable conditions for business.
It was noted that bilateral trade turnover has reached $4 billion since the beginning of the year. The goal is to increase this figure to $10 billion by 2030.
All necessary conditions for this have been created: a substantial portfolio of trade and investment agreements has been formed, the UzKazTrade company has been established, and mechanisms for direct cooperation between business circles have been put in place.
As part of the Kazakh president’s visit, the Central Asia International Center for Industrial Cooperation and several important projects worth $1.3 billion were launched. A large-scale Industrial Cooperation Program with a total value of over $8 billion was prepared, encompassing projects in the chemical, geological, infrastructure, logistics, agro-industrial, and many other sectors.
A systematic partnership in the transport and logistics sector was identified as a priority area. The need for joint work on creating new transport corridors, including the Uchkuduq-Kyzylorda route, and promoting freight traffic at the ports of Aktau, Kuryk, and Khorgos was noted.
Effective measures will be taken to further strengthen cooperation in the water and environmental sphere. The parties welcomed the signing of the Agreement on the Joint Management and Use of Transboundary Water Bodies during the visit.
Following the Supreme Interstate Council meeting, Mirziyoyev and Tokayev took part in a ceremony launching major cooperation projects.
Particularly, the operations of the Central Asia International Center for Industrial Cooperation and the new head office of Tenge Bank in Tashkent were launched.
A start was also given to the construction of the Silkway Central Asia multipurpose logistics center, production facilities for linear alkylbenzene, the Astana Quarter in New Tashkent, as well as the Tashkent and Astana hotel complexes in both capitals.
The Presidents of Uzbekistan and Kazakhstan expressed confidence that these projects will provide powerful momentum to the development of mutually beneficial trade and economic cooperation between the two countries.
Photo: president.uz
