On January 11, the Prime Minister Abdulla Aripov congratulated Alikhan Smailov on his appointment to the post of Prime Minister of Kazakhstan in a telephone call.
The Uzbek PM’s press service said that the parties reiterated their intention to "systematically implement the agreements reached at the highest level negotiations, as well as expand multifaceted relations of partnership and alliance based on the principles of openness, traditional friendship and good neighborliness."
The press service of the Kazakh Prime Minister added: "The parties expressed their readiness to further strengthen the strategic partnership ties in both bilateral and multilateral formats."
“The government of Kazakhstan remains firmly committed to the course of deepening strategic partnership with the fraternal Uzbekistan. We are determined to implement the agreements reached earlier. I am sure that the plans outlined within the framework of the bilateral cooperation agenda will be implemented by joint efforts,” Alikhan Smailov said.
Kazakhstan is one of Uzbekistan’s largest trade partners. The two countries account for about 70% of all regional trade in Central Asia.
The volume of the two-way trade in 10 months of 2021 topped $ 3.26 billion, which is by 30% higher than the figure for the same period in 2020. In 2021, Uzbekistan may become on of the top 5 largest trading partners of Kazakhstan.
