According to the Kazakh presidential press service, the leaders held a closed-door meeting after the anthems of the two countries were played in front of the guard of honor. During the meeting, Tokayev spoke about raising bilateral relations to the level of alliance.

“Today we are signing a Treaty on Allied Relations. This, of course, is a new stage in our bilateral ties. To date, we have cooperated at the level of strategic partnership. The package of documents signed today will also give an additional impetus to the development of cooperation between our countries.

In addition, we have agreed to work to increase the bilateral trade turnover to $5 billion in the coming years, and later – to $10 billion. This is a very high level,” said the Kazakh leader.

Tokayev also touched upon security and stability issues in the region, emphasizing the importance of cooperation between the two countries at the level of alliance.

It should be noted that to date, Uzbekistan signed a Treaty on Allied Relations only with Russia. The document is in force since November 14, 2005.