Azernews.Az

Uzbekistan will join the Free Trade Zone Treaty by late 2012, the Uzbek and Kazakh presidents' joint statement said Thursday following the Uzbek-Kazakh high level talks.

According to the document published by Uzbek media, it is emphasized that Kazakhstan welcomed Uzbekistan's decision to become a participant of the Free Trade Zone Treaty dated October 18, 2011 and supports the accession of the Uzbek side to the contract given the principal approaches, agreed and documented in the draft treaty dated October 18, 2011.

'The Republic of Uzbekistan agreed to fix the right of the Republic of Uzbekistan and the Republic of Kazakhstan for the mutual use of export duties on a limited range of products in the Free Trade Zone Treaty dated October 18, 2011 to achieve mutual compromise', a statement said.

Tashkent and Astana agreed to take action for early completion of the multilateral negotiation process on Uzbekistan's accession to the treaty by late 2012.

At present the contract minimising the range of goods which are subject to import duties, have been signed by Russia, Kazakhstan, Ukraine, Armenia, Belarus, Kyrgyzstan, Moldova and Tajikistan.