A meeting was held in Astana between the Minister of Trade and Integration of Kazakhstan Arman Shakkaliev and the Minister of Investment, Industry and Trade of Uzbekistan Laziz Kudratov, El.kz reports with reference to the press service of the Ministry of Trade of the Republic of Kazakhstan.
The main topic of discussion was the strengthening of trade and economic cooperation before the upcoming meeting of the heads of the two states, as well as the work of the ICPC-Central Asia industrial zone, created on the Kazakh-Uzbek border, and Uzbekistan's transition to the Rules for determining the country of origin of 2009.
Uzbekistan is one of the largest trading partners of Kazakhstan, ranking 7th at the end of 2023 and accounting for more than 57% of Kazakhstan's trade turnover with Central Asia. In 2023, the trade turnover between the countries amounted to 4.4 billion US dollars.
"To achieve the goal of increasing trade to $5 billion in the near future and to $10 billion in the medium term, it is necessary to solve topical trade issues and find new growth points," Arman Shakkaliev said.
Uzbekistan is the main supplier of fruits and vegetables to Kazakhstan. Through the joint venture UZKAZTRADE, fruits and vegetables worth $1.6 million were exported. Kazakhstan is interested in continuing supplies and will work on the priority movement of perishable goods.
Minister of Investment, Industry and Trade of Uzbekistan Laziz Kudratov said that Uzbekistan has sent a notification of accession to the Rules of 2009 and plans to complete this process by the end of the year. This step is important to achieve the goal of increasing mutual trade between the countries.
One of the most important aspects of strengthening relations between Kazakhstan and Uzbekistan is cross-border cooperation within the framework of the International Center for Industrial Cooperation "Central Asia". During the meeting, the parties shared information on the current state of the creation of the industrial zone, informing that the initiators of the project who will begin its implementation have already been determined.
The parties agreed to organize a presentation of projects at the ICPC – Central Asia industrial zone in September this year.