BISHKEK (TCA) — Kyrgyzstan and Uzbekistan have now turned from just friendly countries into “strategic partners,” new Kyrgyz President Sooronbai Jeenbekov said after his talks with Uzbek President Shavkat Mirziyoyev in Tashkent on December 13.
Jeenbekov is on an official visit to neighboring Uzbekistan on December 13 and 14. It is Jeenbekov’s second foreign trip — after a visit to Russia — since his inauguration late in November.
In Tashkent, Jeenbekov and Uzbek President Mirziyoyev discussed bilateral economic, political, and cultural ties.
“The main result of our negotiations is our common opinions about the necessity of further development and strengthening of Kyrgyz-Uzbek relations based on good neighborliness and traditional friendship,” Jeenbekov told the media after his talks with the Uzbek leader, Jeenbekov’s press service reported.
Jeenbekov said that Kyrgyzstan and Uzbekistan will be jointly working on the project to build a China-Kyrgyzstan-Uzbekistan railroad, which will help to make use of the transit potential of the two countries. “With regard to the railroad construction project, working groups of the two countries will meet on December 25 this year,” he said.
The president of Uzbekistan said that trade between Kyrgyzstan and Uzbekistan had reached $250 million since the beginning of this year. “This figure may reach $280 million by the end of the year. We want to increase our trade up to $500 million [a year]. We want to remove all the existing barriers,” Mirziyoyev said.
Jeenbekov also said that Uzbekistan could benefit from Kyrgyzstan’s membership of the Eurasian Economic Union to set up Uzbek-Kyrgyz joint ventures in processing and textile sectors for further export of products to EEU member states.
