AKIPRESS.COM - President of Uzbekistan Shavkat Mirziyoyev and President of Kazakhstan Kassym-Joomart Tokayev held talks in an expanded format with the participation of delegations of the two countries, UzA reported.

The head of Uzbekistan stressed the significant progress in all areas of multifaceted and mutually beneficial cooperation between Uzbekistan and Kazakhstan.

The parties signed the Alliance Agreement, which provides for various areas of interstate cooperation in future, and the agreement on the demarcation of the Kazakh-Uzbek state border. The length of the border between Kazakhstan and Uzbekistan exceeds 2,100 kilometers, the parties began negotiations on its demarcation in 2003.

The President of Kazakhstan stressed that the agreements signed today open up new horizons for cooperation.

During the talks, it was noted that the core of bilateral cooperation is the economy and it is necessary to make more efforts to use the huge potential of the two countries.

The volume of mutual trade has doubled over the past five years, and it will approach $5 billion by the end of this year. An agreement was reached to form a working group headed by deputy prime ministers and create a joint foreign trade company to multiply the volume of trade turnover.

Special attention was paid to the promotion of cooperation projects. The sides noted with satisfaction that major projects in the energy, automotive, chemical, electrical, construction, logistics and others will be launched today.

Following the results of the business forum held before the talks, a number of new investment agreements and trade contracts worth over $ 8 billion was signed.

The heads of state agreed to promote projects on modernization and construction of energy capacities, geological exploration and deep processing of natural gas. The interlocutors also came to agreement to accelerate projects that enhance transport infrastructure.

The Presidents noted the importance of further strengthening and expanding inter-parliamentary contacts and cultural-humanitarian exchanges, such as popularization of the common cultural and historical heritage.