Kazakhstan, Astana, 11 June / Trend D.Mukhtarov /
Kazakhstan and Uzbekistan share two major issues, says Kazakh political scientist, Director of the Risk Assessment Group, candidate of political science Dosym Satpayev.
"Kazakhstan and Uzbekistan share two important issues. First - it's a matter of maintaining security with a focus on the situation in Afghanistan. Second - water shortages in the coming years," Satpayev told Trend on the eve of the official visit of the President of Kazakhstan Nursultan Nazarbayev to Tashkent, which will take place later this week.
According to Kazakh political scientist, preserving partnership relations with Tashkent is important for Astana.
"Uzbekistan is one of the largest states in the Central Asian region, which plays a key role in terms of security," Satpayev said.
He recalled that relations between Kazakhstan and Uzbekistan in the last 20 years have never passed to the stage of conflict.
"Yes, there have been certain frictions and disagreements between the two countries, a different understanding of the issue of regional cooperation advocated by Kazakhstan. But at the same time, both countries have never crossed the line of non-conflict development. On the other hand, there were no major breakthroughs in economic co-operation," the expert said.
As for the first issue uniting the two countries - preservation of security in the region following the withdrawal of peacekeeping forces from Afghanistan, it is the question on which the leaders of the two countries in recent years have often spoken with concern.
"Tashkent makes more negative forecast, in contrast to Astana, but in any case, the risks and threats can affect all countries of our region. And today we see that Astana and Tashkent are becoming closer with regards to security, at least at the level of diplomatic discussions," Satpayev said.
The second issue, according to the analyst, which unites the two countries, is a problem of future water shortages.
"The water problem is related to both countries as both Kazakhstan and Uzbekistan are large consumers of water resources. In the near future, this problem will present a current. The fact that Islam Karimov during his visit to Astana last year raised the water issue in tough way is a proof to it," the expert said.
Alongside, according to him, Kazakhstan is on the side of diplomatic discussions with other countries in the region and solving the water problem through negotiations.
"The forthcoming visit of the Kazakh leader Nursultan Nazarbayev to Tashkent is needed to maintain contacts with the Uzbek leadership and to hold, as they say, "a finger on the pulse". "Such visits are necessary to reduce the reticence and mutual suspicions and maintain stability in Central Asia", Dosym Satpayev concluded.
Kazakhstan's President Nursultan Nazarbayev will pay an official visit to Uzbekistan on June 13-14 for at the invitation of his Uzbek counterpart.
The sides are expected to sign a number of important bilateral and intergovernmental agreements. During the visit, the President of Kazakhstan Nursultan Nazarbayev will take part in the official opening of the new building of the Embassy of Kazakhstan in Uzbekistan as well as a monument to Abai in Tashkent.
