The President Mirziyoyev held talks with the President of Kazakhstan in narrow fromat adn in particular told him that his state visit is the logical follow-up of the political dialogue that has been enhanced in recent years.
- We highly value that your first state visit as President of the Republic of Kazakhstan was to Uzbekistan. In this we see a clear evidence of commitment to further deepen the strategic partnership ties between our countries. For us, Kazakhstan is a close neighbor and a strategic partner. We are pleased with the positive trend in all areas,” said Shavkat Mirziyoyev.
The President of Kazakhstan expressed his gratitude for the invitation to Uzbekistan and the confidence that the negotiations would be fruitful.
- I fully agree with your assessment of the quality and content of the bilateral cooperation. You, dear Shavkat Miromonovich, and the First President of Kazakhstan, Nursultan Nazarbayev, have elevated the bilateral ties to a completely new level. I consider it my task to maintain these trends. In Kazakhstan, there is a great deal of demand for cooperation with fraternal Uzbekistan, - said Kasym-Jomart Tokayev.
The two leaders discussed the ways to further advance bilateral ties of friendship and good neighborliness, cooperation in trade, transport, tourism and other areas and exchanged views on regional and international issues of mutual interest.
The sides also considered the issues of strengthening peace and security in the region, helping to resolve the situation in Afghanistan.
The meeting reaffirmed the unity or proximity of the two countries' positions on the regional and international issues.
Afterwards the Presidents Shavkat Mirziyoyev and Kasym-Jomart Tokayev continued the talks in an expanded format with the participation of members of delegations represented by heads of ministries and major companies of the two countries.
The sides noted that consistent implementation of the provisions of the Strategy for Economic Cooperation between the Republic of Uzbekistan and the Republic of Kazakhstan for 2017-2019 would serve to build up mutually beneficial and fruitful cooperation based on the common strategic interests of the two countries.
Over the past two years, the partnership ties have been raised to a new level. The contacts between provinces and businesses have been intensified. As a result, the year 2018 was a breakthrough in trade and economic cooperation. The two-way trade grew by almost 50 percent and surpassed 3 billion dollars.
The parties confirmed their mutual desire to reach the 5-billion-dollar mark in the coming years. The Intergovernmental Commission for Bilateral Cooperation between Uzbekistan and Kazakhstan has been tasked to expand the range of trade goods, find and develop new forms of economic cooperation.
This will contribute to the strengthening and building-up of mutually beneficial economic cooperation, the implementation of promising new investment, logistics, tech park projects, research and innovation clusters and free economic zones.
The sides commended the outcomes of the first Forum of interprovincial cooperation between Uzbekistan and Kazakhstan, held in November 2018 in Shymkent, as well as the First Regional Economic Forum of Central Asian countries, held in March 2019 in Tashkent.
The two leaders welcomed the successful progress of the delineation of the Kazakh-Uzbek state border, the effective operation of checkpoints.
The sides reached agreements on the implementation of transport, logistics and industrial projects and noted that the development of cooperation in the transport and communications sector will boost the exports and transit potential capabilities of our countries.
