Baku, Azerbaijan, April 29
Trend:
By the end of 2020, Kazakhstan is expected to increase the trade turnover with Uzbekistan to $5 billion, Trend reports citing Kazakh media.
In the period January-February of 2019, Kazakhstan’s trade turnover with Uzbekistan totaled to $433.5 million, which is 16.5 percent more than in the same period of last year, according to the report. It says, "This increase is expected to go on in the future, after President of Uzbekistan Shavkat Mirziyoyev and President of Kazakhstan Kassym-Jomart Tokayev signed a number of agreements during the visit of the Kazakhstan President to Tashkent."
At the meeting with counterpart, Kassym-Jomart Tokayev stated that his visit to Uzbekistan coincided with the beginning of the Year of Kazakhstan in Uzbekistan and pointed out that these events will support the strengthening of these counties’ bilateral relations. In his words, the mutual trade between countries shall reach $5 billion by the end of 2020.
“A question of setting International Center for Trade and Economy Cooperation situated at the border of Kazakhstan and Uzbekistan is being discussed. Implementation of the project will allow to streamline the border trade and work of the border crossing checkpoints, and launch a new major trade and logistics hub in Central Asia,” the news report says.
As announced, in January-February of 2019, the volume of Uzbekistan’s export to Kazakhstan increased by 29.6 percent reaching $353.4 million. The main exported goods in the first two months were wheat and meslin ($72.2 million, annual increase of 26.8 percent), crude oil and petroleum products ($35.8 million, annual increase by 3.4 times), and semi-finished iron and non alloy steel products ($27.6 million, annual increase of 28.1 percent).
In the same period, Uzbekistan import to Kazakhstan decreased by 19.4 percent reaching $80.1 million. “The main exported goods were ore and lead concentrates ($14.1 million), polymers of ethylene in primary forms ($10 million, annual increase of 7.1 percent), and grape including dried grapes ($4.8 million, annual increase of 21.2 percent).”