Uzbeks and Kazakhs are not just close neighbors, but brothers connected by a common historical heritage, cultural and spiritual values. This is our priceless wealth, and we cherish it and will cherish it. I am sure we have a common destiny and a common future.
Shavkat Mirziyoyev, President of the Republic of Uzbekistan.
The state visit of the President of Kazakhstan Kassym-Jomart Tokayev to Uzbekistan has certainly become a significant historical event. The meeting marked another important milestone in the development and deepening of bilateral cooperation, brought cooperation to the stage of allied relations. As a result of the visit, a solid package of documents was signed, including 17 agreements, contracts and memoranda. Of course, the key of them was the Treaty on Allied Relations.
I am glad that in the year since the signing of the Declaration on Allied Relations during the state visit of President Shavkat Mirziyoyev to Kazakhstan on December 5-6, 2021, we have brought the partnership to a new level. This indicates the desire of both sides to increase cooperation, maximize the existing potential, which meets the fundamental interests of the Uzbek and Kazakh peoples.
As President Shavkat Mirziyoyev rightly noted, the alliance is the highest and most trusting level of interstate partnership, confirming the intention to build a common future. In turn, Kassym-Jomart Tokayev called the treaty a document of historical significance that meets the vital and long-term national interests of the two fraternal states, and will also play a key role in ensuring peace, stability and security of the entire region.
Undoubtedly, the agreement reflects the high level of multifaceted cooperation already achieved by the countries, based on trust, consideration and respect for national interests. At the same time, there is a strong political will and a determined attitude of the parties to make mutually beneficial cooperation irreversible, especially in those areas that are of strategic importance for security and sustainable development – energy, transport, logistics, mechanical engineering, industry, construction industry and others.
The Treaty on Allied Relations defines a range of specific areas of joint cooperation, including trade, economic, transport, energy, ecology and water use issues, security in the region, establishes common approaches of Uzbekistan and Kazakhstan to the most important issues of further development of cooperation at the bilateral, regional and international levels.
For the successful and effective development of allied relations, it is envisaged to create a Supreme Interstate Council at the level of heads of State. The Body is called upon to determine priority areas for the development of cooperation, resolve important political and economic issues, and determine the position on the main regional and global agendas of mutual interest.
Moreover, the parties identified the development of regional cooperation as the main strategic priority and expressed their readiness to take concerted measures to strengthen the atmosphere of peace and harmony in the region, promoting mutual interests and ideas of regional rapprochement in Central Asia.
Thus, Uzbekistan and Kazakhstan were the first in the Central Asian region to bring bilateral relations to the level of allies, to institutionalize political dialogue, which became an important milestone in the development of the whole of Central Asia. On the one hand, this will allow the two states to more effectively form common approaches to the development of bilateral and regional dialogue. On the other hand, it can begin the transition to a fundamentally new level of political and strategic interaction in Central Asia. After all, until now, the republics have mostly been limited to bilateral treaties on friendship and strategic partnership. In fact, with the signing of the agreement, a new vector of cooperation is being approved, based on an understanding of common interests, the need to combine political, economic, and diplomatic potentials for further progressive development and joint solution of the tasks facing our countries.
Another significant result of the meeting was the signing of an agreement on the demarcation of the Uzbek-Kazakh state border. As President Shavkat Mirziyoyev noted, the document testifies to the strength of ties, serves the cause of peace and security in the region. Our border has always been and remains the border of friendship and good neighborliness, the Head of state stressed. In turn, the leader of Kazakhstan said: the agreement fully completes the international legal registration of the state border of Kazakhstan on its southern borders. With this document, the republics put an end to such a sensitive issue in all respects as the demarcation of borders.
Thus, the leaders of the two states have clearly demonstrated that there are no unsolvable issues in the region. And if there is political will and an understanding of responsibility to future generations, it is always possible to achieve a mutually beneficial compromise.
In general, today Tashkent and Astana are building a kind of axis designed to become a guide and foundation for strengthening regional cooperation, acting as a model of a new type of interaction between the states of the region. At the same time, Uzbek-Kazakh cooperation is not directed against the interests of anyone, but, on the contrary, is focused on consolidating common efforts to address the common challenges of sustainable development and security facing Central Asia.
Development of common approaches to solving common tasks
It is noteworthy that within the framework of the visit, investment agreements were concluded for an impressive amount – more than eight billion dollars. Such high dynamics speaks about successfully developing business ties between the two states, the growth of trust and readiness for mutual investment in promising sectors of the economy.
The drivers of Uzbek-Kazakh economic cooperation are both the developing institutional framework, including the activities of the joint intergovernmental commission on cooperation, the Business Council, the interaction of Chambers of Commerce and Industry, and new forms of cooperation in the form of cross-border industrial cooperation centers, interregional business forums, expanding ties between the regions of the two countries.
During the visit, the fourth interregional business forum was held, which filled the agenda with practical content. In particular, agreements were reached on the joint development of projects in agriculture, mechanical engineering, textiles, transport and logistics, industrial cooperation. At the same time, we observe an increasing interest in the interaction between the business circles of Uzbekistan and Kazakhstan. If about 300 businessmen took part in the first three forums together and agreements worth $ 1.5 billion were concluded, then more than 400 representatives of the business community of the two countries have already participated in this one, and the amount of commercial contracts amounted to three billion dollars.
Moreover, memoranda were signed to expand cooperation between Tashkent, Samarkand, Jizzakh (Uzbekistan) and Turkestan (Kazakhstan), Navoi (Uzbekistan) and Kyzylorda (Kazakhstan) regions, as well as agreements on the implementation of projects in these regions in the field of energy, chemical industry, transport and logistics.
The signed memorandum between the Agency for Strategic Reforms of Uzbekistan and the Agency for Strategic Planning and Reforms of Kazakhstan also meets the spirit of allied relations. This indicates the readiness of the two countries to harmonize efforts in matters of strategic forecasting, which will facilitate the exchange of experience on improving the effectiveness of reforms, their integration with national development goals, and the formation of a platform for building a common future.
At the same time, the issue of establishing closer cooperation between civil servants should be raised. To this end, the parties signed a Memorandum of Understanding in the field of public service, which will create conditions for the exchange of competencies on issues of effective public policy, rapprochement of political elites and consolidation of their efforts to ensure sustainable development.
Sample of interstate partnership
Today, Uzbek-Kazakh relations are successfully developing in all directions and are based on the principles of friendship, good neighborliness and mutual respect. Of course, it should be noted that the current highest level of interaction between Uzbekistan and Kazakhstan has largely become possible thanks to the established close and trusting dialogue of the leaders, setting the tone for the development of bilateral ties. This is confirmed by the holding of four state visits over the past six years. In total, during this period, the leaders of the two countries held more than 30 meetings on the sidelines of summits and meetings within the framework of international and regional organizations. This year alone, the Presidents of Uzbekistan and Kazakhstan have met eight times.
The central place in bilateral relations is given to trade, economic and investment cooperation. Over the past six years, the trade turnover between the countries has more than doubled and reached four billion dollars in 2022. This positive trend will continue this year – the growth of mutual trade for 11 months of this year has already amounted to about 20 percent, which has allowed to increase the volume of trade turnover to $ 4.2 billion. By the end of the year, the indicator of mutual trade may reach five billion dollars.
At the same time, our countries are equivalent trading partners. Kazakhstan accounts for 64 percent of Uzbekistan’s foreign trade with Central Asia. Similarly, Uzbekistan’s share in Kazakhstan’s regional trade turnover is 60 percent. In the foreign trade turnover of Uzbekistan with foreign countries, Kazakhstan took the third place in 2021 with an indicator of 9.3 percent.
