11.03.20
Kazakhstan and Uzbekistan are starting construction of the international center for trade and economic cooperation "Central Asia" (ICTES) on the Kazakh-Uzbek border, informed Minister of trade and integration of Kazakhstan Bakhyt Sultanov, KazTAG reports.
"One of these days, we will start implementing the most important trade project in the southern direction – the construction of the international center for trade and economic cooperation "Central Asia" on the border with Uzbekistan. This was agreed at the level of heads of state two years ago. We discussed specific measures with our colleague, Minister of investment and foreign trade of the Republic of Uzbekistan Sardor Umurzakov", said Sultanov on his Facebook page on Tuesday.
The Minister noted that ICTEC is an important element of trade cooperation in the Central Asian region.
"Central Asia today is a dynamic region with a population of more than 71 million people. In Central Asia, there are huge opportunities for intraregional division of labor – the countries of the region represent ideal markets for each other. And, most importantly, all our countries are already actively cooperating with each other. Our mutual trade turnover with Central Asian countries alone amounted to $5.1 billion by the end of 2019. The largest trading partner in the region is Uzbekistan, which accounts for more than 60% of Kazakhstan's mutual trade with the region. The outpacing growth rate of mutual trade and service provision has continued since 2017, averaging 30.7%. And as previously mentioned, mutual trade, having passed the four-billion mark in the past year, is easily approaching five, which already allows us to set more ambitious goals of doubling the total volume of exchanged goods, works and services," the Minister shared information.
