Uzbekistan – Kazakhstan: Cooperation is focused on achieving results
The visit of the President of Kazakhstan, Kassym-Jomart Tokayev, to Uzbekistan the day before and the talks with the President of Uzbekistan, Shavkat Mirziyoyev, in Khiva, once again confirmed the firm determination of Tashkent and Astana to comprehensively build up a strategic partnership and alliance and fill them with concrete content, UzA reports.
The working format of the meeting, the specific nature of the agenda, the hearing directly by the heads of state of reports from Deputy Prime Ministers, co-chairs of working groups under the intergovernmental commission on the promotion of joint projects indicate the high interest of the parties in further developing multifaceted cooperation between Uzbekistan and Kazakhstan, the mutual desire of the leaders of our countries to achieve practical results, designed to bring bilateral relations to a qualitatively new level and give them an even more progressive character.
It should be noted that meetings in this format at the beginning of each year have already become an established practice of informal interstate communication and are becoming an effective political and diplomatic tool for promoting common interests. In particular, in March last year, the heads of state held a working meeting in Shymkent, during which they coordinated joint actions on current issues on the bilateral, regional, and international agenda.
During the current meeting in Khiva, which took place in a warm and friendly atmosphere, the two countries’ presidents reviewed the progress of the practical implementation of previously reached agreements and synchronized plans for the near future. Particular attention was paid to promoting joint projects in mechanical engineering, energy, transport and logistics, mining, textile, and food industries. An agreement was reached on developing and adopting a long-term industrial cooperation program.
Of course, putting cooperation on a long-term program basis in these strategically essential sectors that form key factors in the economic well-being of countries testifies to the high level of mutual trust achieved between our states and the desire to continue to unite efforts for the entire joint development of the potential of Uzbekistan and Kazakhstan. Moreover, industrial cooperation, based on complementarity and the use of the competitive advantages of countries’ economies, will undoubtedly entail even more active cross-border movement of goods, services, capital, and people, which will contribute to the creation of a more extensive and connected regional market, increased labor productivity and the formation of reliable value chains. This, in turn, will create conditions for manufacturing competitive products, saturating the local market with in-demand goods and replacing expensive imports with domestic products, increasing the efficiency of efforts to bring joint products to the markets of third countries and strengthening the self-sufficiency and sustainability of our economies.
Of course, the ultimate beneficiaries of such cooperation will be the citizens of Uzbekistan and Kazakhstan since additional jobs and sources of income will be created, and new reserves will appear for domestic investment in economic growth.
A solid foundation has already been developed in this direction. Investment cooperation is on a trajectory of progressive development. According to some estimates, the parties are implementing 60 projects worth $2.6 billion, which has already created over 13 thousand jobs. Another 43 projects were recognized as promising.
Mutual interest in mutual investments is also evidenced by the growth dynamics of joint ventures, the number of which in Uzbekistan alone over the past seven years has increased more than fivefold, exceeding a thousand units. At the same time, the absorption of Kazakh investments in 2023 doubled compared to 2022 and reached $232 million.
This cooperation makes Kazakhstan one of Uzbekistan’s top three trading partners. Over the past three years, the trade turnover between the two countries has consistently exceeded four billion dollars, showing a twofold increase since 2016.
Without a doubt, the International Center for Industrial Cooperation “Central Asia”, as well as a joint foreign trade company, the launch of practical work, which was also the focus of attention of the leaders in Khiva, will add even greater dynamism to trade and economic cooperation between our countries.
Particular attention should be paid to the fact that the heads of the two states thoroughly exchanged views and agreed on positions on the development of regional cooperation, the situation in Afghanistan, and interaction within international and regional organizations. This, in turn, testifies to the readiness of Tashkent and Astana to jointly promote mutually beneficial cooperation, peace, and security in Central Asia, take responsibility for solving the most important tasks of the regional agenda, and speak from coordinated positions in the international arena.
In general, there is every reason to assert that the summit held in Khiva will give additional impetus to strengthening the strategic partnership and alliance between Uzbekistan and Kazakhstan and will make an essential contribution to ensuring sustainable development and stability throughout Central Asia.
