Tashkent, Uzbekistan (UzDaily.com) -- Prime Minister of Uzbekistan Abdulla Aripov held talks with Prime Minister of Kazakhstan Alikhan Smailov on the sidelines of the Second Regional Summit on the Sustainable Development Goals “Beyond COVID – towards a just recovery in Central Asia”. 

The parties discussed issues of industrial cooperation, cooperation in agriculture and the transit and transport sector, as well as interaction in the field of water resources. 

It was noted that at the end of 2021, the volume of mutual trade between the countries increased by 33% to US$4.3 million, and for 4 months of this year - by 24.5% to US$1.4 billion.

“The implementation of the task outlined by the Presidents of the two countries to increase the volume of mutual trade to US$10 billion requires a comprehensive approach. Kazakhstan and Uzbekistan have sufficient economic potential for this. I believe that our regular meetings will help raise Kazakh-Uzbek relations to a new level,” said Alikhan Smailov.

It should be noted that on 16 June, the second regional Summit on the Sustainable Development Goals “Beyond COVID - Towards a Just Recovery in Central Asia” began its work in Almaty. The summit is organized by the Government of the Republic of Kazakhstan in partnership with the United Nations Development Program in Kazakhstan with financial support from the European Union and the Asian Development Bank.