The strategy of economic cooperation between Kazakhstan and Uzbekistan for 2007-2015 will be signed during the official visit of the Kazakh Prime Minister Karim Masimov to Tashkent starting on 26 July, RIA Novosti quoted the Government of Kazakhstan.

The Strategy will determine the main areas of cooperation of the governments of the two countries in the fields of trade, investment and finance, water and energy spheres, transportation and communication, border cooperation, and innovation.

In 2006 the volume of bilateral trade between the countries comprised US$703.8 million, which is nearly the triple of the 2005 result. In January-May of this year the volume of trade has already reached US$525.2 million, the report said.

Currently 96 enterprises fully or partially based on Kazakh investments, including 48 joint ventures, operate on the territory of Uzbekistan. Some 715 small and medium-sized enterprises with Uzbek capital are present in Kazakhstan.

On the morning of 27 July, Prime Minister of Kazakhstan will fly to Samarkand, where he will visit the historical sites of the ancient city. In the evening of the same day, Karim Masimov will depart for Astana.