16.05.22
Prime Minister of Kazakhstan Alikhan Smailov held talks with Prime Minister of Uzbekistan Abdullah Aripov in a video conference mode, primeminister.kz reports.
The heads of government in an expanded format discussed issues of further development of trade and economic cooperation, the implementation of joint projects in the fields of industry, transport, agriculture and education, as well as cooperation in the water and energy sector.
"Uzbekistan is for us a fraternal neighboring state, a time–tested friend and a long-term strategic partner. Our main goal is the full implementation of the tasks set by the heads of our states and bringing the Kazakh-Uzbek cooperation to a qualitatively new level," Alikhan Smailov said.
During the negotiations, it was noted that by the end of 2021, trade between the countries increased by 33% (4.3 billion dollars). Positive dynamics is also observed in the first quarter of 2022 – the trade turnover amounted to over $ 1 billion, which is 27.2% higher than the same period last year.
In order to achieve the goal of increasing bilateral trade turnover to $ 10 billion in the next five years, a Practical Action Plan consisting of 41 measures was adopted.
In this direction, the parties stressed the need to intensify work to eliminate barriers in mutual trade and prevent the emergence of new ones. The Kazakh side is preparing a draft of an appropriate Roadmap, the document will allow for spot work to eliminate existing issues.
There is also a positive trend in industrial cooperation, where nine major joint projects are currently being implemented for a total amount of about $ 1 billion 786 million.
Summing up the discussion, the Prime Ministers of Kazakhstan and Uzbekistan confirmed their readiness to continue working on all the planned projects in order to jointly give an additional impetus to comprehensive bilateral cooperation.
