Uzbekistan and Kazakhstan have set up a joint foreign trade company to increase bilateral trade and enter the markets of third countries.
The founders of the export-import enterprise were the QazTrade Trade Policy Development Center and the UzTrade company.
The foreign trade company will focus on conducting market research and competitive analysis of products of large enterprises of the two countries, developing proposals for placing orders for the production of finished goods, optimizing and coordinating mutual trade processes, assisting businesses in certification and promotion of goods for export.
“At the initial stage, we plan to purchase fruit and vegetable products from Uzbekistan to meet the needs of our domestic market. In addition, we will help sell Kazakh flour products in Uzbekistan with the possibility of further export to Afghanistan. We have agreed with the Uzbek side to provide preferences for logistics costs,” said Nuraly Bukeykhanov, Head of the Trade Policy Development Center.
In 2022, trade between Kazakhstan and Uzbekistan reached $5 billion, up 29.8% year-on-year ($3.8 billion).
The volume of exports of Kazakhstani goods increased by 33% to $3.7 billion. The growth in exports was mainly due to an increase in supplies of ore and copper concentrate (up 4.8 times), wheat (up 32.3%), cars (up 83.7%), sunflower oil (up 97.2 times), fresh and chilled beef (up 4.1 times), and raw aluminum (up 70.4%).
In 2022, imports to Kazakhstan from Uzbekistan increased by 21.4% to $ 1.3 billion. Kazakhstan mainly buys car bodies, spark-ignition internal combustion engines, grapes, flat-rolled unalloyed steel, lead ores and concentrates, building bricks, floor blocks and similar ceramic products, parts and accessories for cars and tractors, and ethylene polymers.
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