BAKU, Azerbaijan, July 15
Trend:
Contracts worth $62.5 million were signed on the first day of the Kazakh Trade-Economic Mission to Uzbekistan, Kazakhstan’s Vice Minister of Trade and Integration Kayrat Torebayev said in an interview to Kazinform, Trend reports.
“Uzbekistan is Kazakhstan’s largest partner in Central Asia. Unfortunately, the coronavirus has rendered a certain impact on our trade relations. Last year, together with the Foreign Trade Ministry, we worked practically in manual mode, discussing each car crossing the border and carrying cargo. Therefore, the trade hasn’t been suspended for a single day, but nevertheless, trade between our countries decreased by 14 percent," Torebayev noted.
According to the vice-minister, this year all measures are taken to restore and expand the trade relations. As a result, for 5 months of this year, the trade turnover between Uzbekistan and Kazakhstan amounted to $1.5 billion, which is 46 percent more than in the previous year and 20 percent more than in 2019.
"We see great potential in cooperation with Uzbekistan and despite certain quarantine restrictions, we came here to establish closer contacts. Business meetings of interest are organized within a few days. On the first day of the trade and economic mission alone, contracts were signed for $62.5 million. After B2B meeting there will be new signatures", added the Kazakh delegation’s head.
Within the trade-economic mission, the ‘Kazakhstan-Uzbekistan’ Business Forum has been organized in the Uzbek capital Tashkent on the initiative of the Kazakh Ministry of Trade and Integration and the ‘Qaztrade’ Center for Development of Trade Policy. On the Kazakh side, 60 leading companies representing various sectors of the economy take part in the forum.
