As part of an official visit to Tashkent, Minister of Foreign Affairs of the Republic of Kazakhstan Yermek Kosherbayev held talks with Minister of Foreign Affairs of the Republic of Uzbekistan Bakhtiyor Saidov.
During the meeting, the foreign ministers reviewed a wide range of issues of multifaceted Kazakh-Uzbek cooperation, as well as discussed prospects for further strengthening political, trade-economic, investment, transit-transport, water-energy, and cultural-humanitarian cooperation.
The sides expressed their commitment to deepening strategic partnership and alliance based on friendship, mutual understanding and good neighborliness.
“Thanks to the political will of the heads of state in recent years, Kazakh-Uzbek relations have been brought to a qualitatively new level of interaction and demonstrate high dynamics of development at all levels,” Minister Kosherbayev noted during the conversation.
In turn, Minister Saidov confirmed that the presidents of the two states have set a long-term course for the progressive expansion of cooperation in both bilateral and multilateral formats.
In this context, the foreign ministers thoroughly discussed measures for the practical implementation of the agreements reached at the highest level during the first and second meetings of the Supreme Interstate Council in 2024-2025, and expressed readiness to further promote the inter-parliamentary and intergovernmental relations.
Special attention was paid to further development of trade-economic and investment cooperation.
“Significant progress has been made in recent years in deepening economic cooperation. Kazakhstan consistently ranks among Uzbekistan’s top three trading partners. In 2025, the bilateral trade increased by 16.2 percent and approached $5 billion,” Minister Kosherbayev said. In the context of the implementation of the agreements reached at the highest level, the ministers confirmed their intentions to facilitate further deepening of the economic partnership, including increasing bilateral trade to $10 billion.
The interlocutors also noted progress in industrial cooperation, which currently includes 78 investment projects worth $1.8 billion.
In this context, the implementation of such projects as the construction of the International Center for Industrial Cooperation “Central Asia”, hotels “Tashkent” in Astana and “Astana” in Tashkent, as well as the “Astana” district in “Yangi Tashkent” was also reviewed.
During the meeting, the sides highlighted the significant potential for cooperation in the development of transport corridors enabling both countries to access markets of the Middle East, South Asia and Europe. The sides expressed mutual readiness to promote fruitful interaction in this area.
In addition, the substantive agenda of cultural and humanitarian cooperation was emphasized as the foundation of strong and long-term relations between the two states.
The sides also underscored the importance of implementing projects in the educational field, and in particular, the activities of the branch of the Tashkent Institute of Irrigation and Agricultural Mechanization Engineers in Almaty and the Chirchik branch of South Kazakhstan Research University named after Mukhtar Auezov.
The ministers also exchanged views on current regional and international issues, confirmed their interest in strengthening cooperation within multilateral structures and expressed readiness to continue mutual support in promoting the initiatives of both countries.
The foreign ministers emphasized the importance of developing regional cooperation and joint efforts to strengthen peace and stability in Central Asia.
Following the talks, the Cooperation Program between the Ministries of Foreign Affairs of the Republic of Kazakhstan and the Republic of Uzbekistan for 2026-2027 was signed.
