Trade turnover between Kazakhstan, Uzbekistan up by 35 pct

By Azernews

By Kamila Aliyeva

The trade turnover between Kazakhstan and Uzbekistan is growing at an accelerated pace.

This was stated by Kazakh Vice Minister of Finance Kanat Baedilov at the expanded meeting of the Finance and Budget Committee of the Parliament, Kazinform reported.

The draft law on ratification of the protocol on amendments and supplements to the agreement between the governments of Kazakhstan and Uzbekistan on avoiding double taxation of income and property of June 12, 1996 was discussed at the committee meeting.

“In recent years, the trade turnover between the two countries is developing at a good pace. In particular, only last year, the trade turnover amounted to $ 2 billion. Compared to 2016, the growth was 31.2 percent. If we talk about the first half of this year, turnover has increased by 35 percent. Growth has occurred for both imports and exports. The main export directions are ferrous metals, oil products and wheat. Vegetables, fruits and nuts predominate in the composition of imports,” Baedilov said.

The vice minister also noted that investments of Uzbekistan to Kazakhstan for the past 10 years amounted to $ 31.3 million, half of which was invested in 2016. Kazakh investments in Uzbekistan amounted to $ 114.4 million over the past decade.

The protocol discussed introduces a number of changes to the current agreement and sets several goals.

First of all, it aims to strengthen the cooperation of the tax services of both states, expanding the exchange of information on all types of taxes. Another goal is to apply measures to prevent evasion from payment of taxes, provided for by domestic law. Thirdly, it will eliminate the problems of double residency by legal entities. Then, it is also aimed to impose income on certain activities from the first day of such activities. In addition, the protocol updates the names of taxes to which the agreement is being extended, the provisions of the articles “Interest” and “Royalties”, “Independent Personal Services” are specified.

After discussion, the committee decided to submit the bill to the Chamber for consideration.