ASTANA (TCA) — Kazakhstan and Uzbekistan will extend the list of products they deliver to each other with the purpose to increase bilateral trade, Kazakhstan’s First Deputy Prime Minister Bakytzhan Sagintayev said during the 15th meeting of the Kazakh-Uzbek intergovernmental commission for bilateral cooperation on March 11, the official website of the Prime Minister of Kazakhstan reported.
The Uzbek delegation at the meeting was headed by First Deputy Prime Minister and Finance Minister, Rustam Azimov.
“In connection with the situation in the world economy, last year our trade with Uzbekistan fell by 13.9 percent. But it is a natural process,” Sagintayev said.
He said that at the meeting Uzbekistan agreed to lower excise duties for Kazakh meat and confectionary products exported to Uzbekistan.
“We can deliver a wide range of products to Uzbekistan. For this purpose, we asked them to lower excise duties for confectionary and meat products, flour, and many other products we currently exporting to Uzbekistan,” Sagintayev said, adding that the excise duties will be gradually lowered until 2020.
Sagintayev also said that Uzbekistan had confirmed that Kazakh farmers will receive enough irrigation water from Syrdarya River.
“Every year during the growing season the Southern Kazakhstan raises the issue of receiving enough irrigation water [from Uzbekistan]. Today the Uzbek side has confirmed that Kazakhstan will receive the full volume of water we had agreed upon,” Sagintayev told journalists after the commission meeting.
