Tashkent, Uzbekistan (UzDaily.com) -- State visit of the President of Kazakhstan Kassym-Jomart Tokayev to Uzbekistan on 21-22 December 2022, which was one of the first after his re-election to the post of Head of State, indicates a high-level of interaction and commitment to further strengthening the allied relations between the two states.

It should be noted that 23 November 2022 marked the 30th anniversary of the establishment of diplomatic relations between the Republic of Uzbekistan and the Republic of Kazakhstan.

Over the years of independent development, relations between Uzbekistan and Kazakhstan have developed in the spirit of mutual respect, trust and mutually beneficial partnership.

We are connected by the longest border in Central Asia, which can rightly be called the border of friendship.

It should be noted that over the past 30 years, relations between our countries have reached a qualitatively new level of strategic partnership and have become a model of interstate cooperation. Of course, this became possible thanks to the efforts of the leaders of our countries.

Today, a completely new page has been opened in the history of Uzbek-Kazakh bilateral cooperation - the status of interstate relations has been raised to the level of an alliance, signed during the State visit to Uzbekistan of President Kassym-Jomart Tokaev. The "Treaty of Allied Relations" will meet the primordial interests of both fraternal peoples and marks a new stage in the history of relations.

The document will make a significant contribution to the further strengthening of the Kazakh-Uzbek strategic partnership, will serve as the basis for deepening mutually beneficial cooperation and the comprehensive development of bilateral cooperation in the political, economic, investment, scientific, technical, cultural and humanitarian spheres between Kazakhstan and Uzbekistan.

Uzbekistan and Kazakhstan are natural economic partners. Our economies do not compete, but complement each other. Mutual trade is growing.

It should be noted that, despite global negative trends, including those related to sanitary restrictions, over the past six years, trade between the countries has grown by 2.5 times and in 2021 approached US$4 billion.

According to the results of eleven months of the current year, the trade turnover amounted to US$4.2 billion and increased by 19% compared to the previous year. It is expected that by the end of 2022, our mutual trade will approach US$5 billion.

The sphere of transport plays a priority role in bilateral relations. The volume of cargo transported through the roads and railways of the two countries, which are also sent in transit to third countries, is consistently increasing. In just ten months of this year, the total volume of international cargo transportation amounted to about 16 million tons.

In addition, the volume of road freight transportation has grown, the transportation of passengers by all modes of transport has increased. Air communication between the countries has been fully restored, new directions have been opened.

In order to diversify transport and logistics routes in the region, Tashkent and Astana advocate the formation of new routes that provide access to each other’s markets. The leaders of the two countries agreed to speed up the construction projects of the railway and highway, as well as the high-speed railway line.

According to this, in 2023-2025, a high-speed railway line Turkestan - Shymkent - Tashkent, with a length of 260 km for US$ 41.5 million, will be built. Presumably, the travel time will be 2 hours, and the internal flow of tourists will increase to 4.5 million people.

Also, in 2023-2025, a new Darbaza-Maktaaral railway line with a length of 106 km between Kazakhstan and Uzbekistan will be built for US$345.8 million, which will unload the existing Saryagash checkpoint. This item has already exhausted its potential. The new line will double the throughput. The acceptance and delivery of trains will increase from 26 times to 50 times a day. The term of transportation of goods will be reduced by 1.5 times.

Today, Uzbekistan and Kazakhstan have reached a stable growth in freight traffic and agreed to mutually create favorable conditions for bilateral and transit traffic.

The two countries are extremely interested in implementing projects aimed at creating reliable transport corridors capable of ensuring stable transit of foreign trade goods with access to markets along the North-South and West-East lines.

The construction of a logistics center in Tashkent region bordering on Kazakhstan will expand the market for logistics services in the border areas, and stimulate cross-border business interaction. After commissioning, the capacity of the logistics center will be 5,000 trucks and 35,000 people per day.

In the future, the integration of the communication systems of the two countries allows not only to carry out cargo transportation through the territory of Uzbekistan to Kazakhstan and vice versa, but also to provide the shortest access to the markets of Russia, China, Europe, as well as the countries of South Asia.

Shavkat Jamalov

Leading Research Fellow at the International Institute of Central Asia