The Deputy Prime Minister, Minister of Investments and Foreign Trade of Uzbekistan Sardor Umurzakov has met with the Minister of Trade and Integration of Kazakhstan Bakhyt Sultanov on the Uzbek-Kazakh border near the “Gisht-Kuprik” customs checkpoint.

During the meeting, the sides discussed the implementation of the “roadmap” to expand and deepen cooperation between the countries, agreed in November last year in Tashkent, the MIFT said in a statement.

The parties identified mechanisms to enhance the interaction of relevant ministries, departments and entrepreneurs of Uzbekistan and Kazakhstan to promote approved events and projects.

Umurzakov and Sultanov also exchanged views on joint measures to increase the volume of mutual trade, in particular, specific steps for the development of cross-border interaction and the course of working out the project to create an international center for trade-economic cooperation “Central Asia” (ICTEC).

Following the negotiations, the parties reached an agreement to accelerate the implementation of this project, and also outlined further joint actions to address topical issues of bilateral investment and trade-economic cooperation.

The process of establishing the center will be carried out in several stages: the preparatory stage – 2019, the investment stage – 2020-2023, including the development of infrastructure (2020-2023) and its prospective development (2023-2025).