Tashkent and Astana intend to increase trade turnover to $10 bln – Uzbek ministry of tradeUzbekistan’s Minister of Investment, Industry and Trade Laziza Kudratova had a meeting with Kazakhstan’s Deputy Minister of Foreign Affairs Alibek Kuantyrov and Deputy Minister of Trade and Integration Kairat Torebayev to discuss ways to strengthen economic ties and increase the trade turnover between the two countries."During the meeting, the sides discussed key issues relating to bilateral cooperation in order to strengthen economic ties, to increase trade turnover and to develop industrial cooperation between the two countries," the press service of the Uzbek Ministry of Investment, Industry and Trade said in a Tuesday press release.The parties exchanged views and identified objectives for the near future. In particular, they agreed to abolish the existing restrictive measures in mutual trade, to set quotas for the supply of agricultural products, to use electronic systems for certification of the origin of goods, and to modernize the border checkpoints.The meeting discussed a possibility of boosting the activities of the International Center for Industrial Cooperation “Central Asia”. Uzbekistan and Kazakhstan should adopt a program to increase the trade turnover to $10 billion, according to the press release.The International Center for Industrial Cooperation “Central Asia” is being created as a free economic zone near the Uzbek-Kazakh border in accordance with the agreement that the governments of Uzbekistan and Kazakhstan signed on November 9, 2023.According to the Statistics Agency of Uzbekistan, the trade turnover between the two countries amounted to $4.3 billion in the twelve months of 2024. Kazakhstan is the third largest trade and economic partner of Uzbekistan after China and Russia. (ICE ALMATY)

Fonte notizia: INTERFAX