(MENAFN- Trend News Agency) ASTANA, Kazakhstan, November 16. Kazakhstan and Uzbekistan have a portfolio of 78 bilateral projects worth over $1.7 billion, the Minister of Trade and Integration of Kazakhstan, Arman Shakkaliyev, said, Trend reports via the ministry.

He made the announcement at the first meeting of the Council of Ministers of Trade and Investment of Central Asian countries and Azerbaijan in Tashkent.

Shakkaliyev highlighted that 13 projects, valued at $220.9 million, have already been successfully implemented. Currently, more than 2,400 enterprises with Uzbek capital are operating in Kazakhstan, including nearly 500 joint ventures.

He also noted that the two countries account for around 80 percent of all regional trade between Central Asia and Azerbaijan. As of the first nine months of this year, bilateral trade between Kazakhstan and Uzbekistan reached $3.4 billion, showing an increase of over 18 percent. Shakkaliyev emphasized the goal of increasing trade between the two nations to $10 billion.

Achieving this target, he said, requires a shift from traditional trade in raw materials to the development of joint production facilities, deepening industrial cooperation, and creating export-oriented value chains.

A key focus of the cooperation is digital integration, which Shakkaliyev believes will help streamline trade operations, facilitate the movement of goods and people, and create a unified digital space for government and business services.

Transportation and logistics projects are also a major area of focus for both countries. According to the ministry, Kazakhstan and Uzbekistan view the development of transit corridors as a strategic factor in boosting regional trade. Last year, the volume of freight transportation along the Trans-Caspian International Transport Route (TITR) through Kazakhstan reached approximately 2.8 million tons, an increase of 35 percent compared to the previous year.

The Kazakh side has proposed enhancing tariff coordination, accelerating the digitalization of logistics processes, modernizing infrastructure, and implementing paperless trade mechanisms to reduce business costs and increase international corridors capacity.

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