Astana, Tashkent to Increase Trade Turnover to $3 billion
First Deputy Prime Minister of Kazakhstan, Askar Mamin, met with Uzbek President Shavkat Mirziyoyev during his working trip to Tashkent. The sides discussed issues of trade and economic cooperation between Kazakhstan and Uzbekistan.
Mamin noted that “Uzbekistan is Kazakhstan's largest trading partner in Central Asia,” and highlighted that the foreign trade turnover between the countries for Q1 2018 had increased by 50% compared to the same period last year. By the end of the year, taking into account the significant potential for increasing mutual trade, the volume of bilateral trade is expected to be raised to $3 billion.
During the meeting, President Mirziyoyev and Deputy PM Mamin agreed to hold the first Kazakhstan-Uzbekistan Interregional Forum in Astana, the Regional Economic Forum of Central Asian countries in Tashkent, as well as the first meeting of the Business Council and a 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-technical sphere.
Within the framework of the visit, a working meeting of the Co-chairmen of the Joint Intergovernmental Commission was held, on bilateral cooperation between Kazakhstan and Uzbekistan, with Askar Mamin and First Deputy Prime Minister of Uzbekistan Achilbay Ramatov attending.
Trade and economic and investment cooperation between Kazakhstan and Uzbekistan is conducted on a systematic basis. Joint trading houses have been established and are successfully operating in the main sectors of the economy, such as agriculture, petrochemicals, the pharmaceutical industry, and machine building. Agreements on the implementation of large infrastructure projects have been reached, and interregional cooperation is actively developing.
The First Deputy Prime Minister of the Republic of Kazakhstan noted the favorable impact of easing Uzbekistan's excise policy on the activation of bilateral trade and spoke in favor of considering the possibility of further reducing excise taxes on imports of a number of goods having priority export potential for Kazakhstan.
An agreement was 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 services for the transit of Kazakh gas through the territory of Uzbekistan.
In addition, the first deputy prime ministers of the republics of Kazakhstan and Uzbekistan decided to establish a joint working group to work out the issue of mutual recognition of visa regimes of both states for tourists from third countries crossing 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.
At the end of the working meeting, the co-chairs of the Joint Intergovernmental Commission signed the relevant Protocol.
By Dimitri Dolaberidze