On December 21, the Uzbekistan-Kazakhstan Business Forum took place in Tashkent bringing together representatives of ministries, departments, chambers of commerce and industry, companies and holdings from the two countries as part of preparations for President of Kazakhstan Kassym-Zhomart Tokayev to visit Uzbekistan, the press office of the Ministry of Investment and Foreign Trade of Uzbekistan reports.
Minister of Investments and Foreign Trade of the Republic of Uzbekistan Jamshid Khodjaev and Deputy Prime Minister, Minister of Trade and Integration of the Republic of Kazakhstan Serik Zhumangarin welcomed the participants at the opening ceremony.
Discussing the indicators of trade and economic cooperation between Uzbekistan and Kazakhstan, the participants noted that the commodity turnover doubled and reached almost $5 billion over the past year. It is expected to reach 10 billion in the future. In this regard, the participants agreed to start creating a foreign trade infrastructure.
They also noted the intensification in investment cooperation. Over the past 5 years, the number of joint ventures has increased 5 times, and the countries continue to implement 30 projects worth over $3 billion.
The participants exchanged views on the prospects for expanding cooperation in organising regional industry and agriculture fairs and implementing joint projects in the mechanical engineering, electronics, electrical engineering, chemical, pharmaceutical, textile and building materials industries.
The forum provided the platform for signing an Agreement on cooperation in the trade, economic, cultural and humanitarian spheres between Samarkand and Turkestan, a Road Map on joint agricultural projects and other cooperation agreements totalling over $ 3 billion.
