Kazakhstan and Uzbekistan have discussed the future of Central Asia.

The Deputy Prime Minister – Minister of Foreign Affairs of Kazakhstan, Murat Nurtleu, met with the Ambassador of Uzbekistan to Kazakhstan, Bakhtiyor Ibragimov.

During the meeting, the current issues of Kazakh-Uzbek cooperation in the political, trade-economic, water-energy, and transit-transport sectors were discussed.

Particular attention was given to the practical implementation of agreements reached at the highest levels following the working visit of the President of Kazakhstan, Kassym-Jomart Tokayev, to Khiva in April and the state visit of the President of Uzbekistan, Shavkat Mirziyoyev, to Astana in August of last year.

M. Nurtleu emphasized Kazakhstan's interest in further expanding multifaceted cooperation with Uzbekistan in the spirit of friendship, strategic partnership, and alliance.

In this context, the importance of finding new growth points to deepen cooperative ties in the areas of trade, industry, transport, agriculture, digitalization, and the space sector was highlighted to achieve the goal set by the leaders of the two countries to increase trade turnover to 10 billion US dollars in the coming years.

For his part, the Uzbek Ambassador informed about Tashkent's firm commitment to further strengthening allied relations with Kazakhstan.

During the conversation, there was an exchange of views on current international agenda issues. The readiness to continue providing mutual support within multilateral frameworks and to promote sustainable development in the Central Asian region was expressed.

The schedule of upcoming events at high and top levels was reviewed.

In conclusion of the conversation, B. Ibragimov thanked for the meeting and assured that he would make every effort to comprehensively deepen Uzbek-Kazakh cooperation.