NEW APPROACHES TO ECONOMIC COOPERATION BETWEEN KAZAKHSTAN AND UZBEKISTAN

Abstract

The article discusses new approaches to economic relations between Kazakhstan and Uzbekistan, assesses the development of bilateral economic relations at the present stage, tells about the impact of new foreign policy initiatives of the President of Uzbekistan Shavkat Mirziyoyev on bilateral relations. In the article, the author reveals a brief evolution of bilateral economic relations from the 2000s to the present. Comparing the policy of the first head of Uzbekistan Islam Karimov and the current President of Uzbekistan Shavkat Mirziyoyev, the author described the level of development of Central Asian integration at this stage. The author believes that Kazakhstan's relations with Uzbekistan are always open and aimed at integration. However, as a result of Uzbekistan's excise policy pursued by Karimov, relations between Kazakhstan and Uzbekistan were of the nature of mutual understanding, friendship, and the volume of mutual trade developed slowly. For example, if in Karimov's leadership in the 2000s, the annual trade turnover of the two countries amounted to $ 295.4 million, then in 2021, under Mirziyoyev's initiative, four 4 months after Uzbekistan stopped applying excise taxes on transported goods, the bilateral trade turnover for January-April amounted to $ 1.2 billion. This is about 12 times more than in 2000. The author positively assesses not only the dynamics of bilateral trade turnover but also the bilateral joint project being implemented at the present stage, achievements in the transport and logistics sphere.