Kazakhstan-Uzbekistan bilateral trade reached $5bln in 2022

TASHKENT. KAZINFORM Prime Minister Alikhan Smailov has met with his Uzbek counterpart Abdulla Aripov ahead of the 20th session of the Intergovernmental Commission for Bilateral Cooperation in Tashkent, Kazinform reports.

The sides discussed a number of relevant issues related to the Kazakh-Uzbek interaction, including joint steps in trade, industrial cooperation, investment activity, energy, logistics, trans-border water resources, cultural-humanitarian ties etc, primeminister.kz said.

Alikhan Smailov emphasized that Uzbekistan has been one of the largest trade partners of Kazakhstan with bilateral commodity turnover to reach 5 billion US dollars in 2022.

«This became possible thanks to our joint efforts. Now we need to raise the levels of our mutual trade turnover to 10 billion US dollars in a short-term outlook, as per the tasks set,» said Smailov.

He noted also a special role of the Kazakh-Uzbek Intergovernmental Commission in addressing a wide range of issues of the bilateral interaction.

In turn, Abdulla Aripov said there is a high potential for further strengthening of the bilateral strategic partnership.

«We observe a positive dynamics in mutual trade. Important projects are implemented in many fields. Uzbekistan targets on further strengthening of the cooperation in trade, energy, transport, agriculture and water industry. In whole, we are interested in deepening the relations with fraternal Kazakhstan,» Abdulla Aripov said.