Azernews.Az

Uzbekistan and Kazakhstan inked several important intergovernmental agreements as a part of Kazakh President Nursultan Nazarbayev's official visit to Uzbekistan.

First, Uzbek President Islam Karimov and President Nazarbayev signed an agreement on a strategic partnership between the two countries.

The agreement sets out basic principles and priority areas of cooperation in political, trade-economic, transport and communication, water and energy, environmental, cultural-humanitarian and military-technical areas as well as in other fields.

The agreement also confirms a single coordinated position regarding the development of a clean water management system in Central Asia, which will resolve all issues in the water and energy sector, including the construction of new hydro-technical structures on the trans-boundary rivers in accordance with international law and taking into account the interests of all countries in the region.

Also, the Uzbek and Kazakh Interior Ministries signed a cooperation agreement. According to the document, the parties will collaborate in suppressing, preventing and detecting terrorist acts, corruption, organized crime, human trafficking, kidnapping, prostitution and trafficking in firearms, ammunition, explosives, poisonous substances and narcotics.

The Uzbek State Customs Committee and the Kazakh Ministry of Finance signed a protocol on the exchange of preliminary information about goods and vehicles transported across the border.

The document is aimed to increase the efficiency of customs controls at the Uzbek-Kazakh border through the mutual exchange of information.

The Uzbek Ministry of Culture and Sports and the Kazakh Ministry of Culture and Information signed a cooperation program on culture for 2013-2015. It envisages the facilitation of the participation of Kazakh and Uzbek groups and performers at international festivals and contests held in these countries.