Kazakhstan and Uzbekistan intend to open several new tourist routes. It is expected that this will significantly strengthen bilateral ties. Thus, for example, one of the tourist routes begins in Turkistan, passes through Samarkand and ends in Bukhara. The infrastructure is currently being improved along the route. This was announced at the 19th Meeting of the Ministers of Culture of Shanghai Cooperation Organization member states held in Tashkent, where the participants expressed their interest in developing joint projects in the field of cinema, theater, library and museum services.
“In addition to Turkistan, this route will also include Taraz. After that, we plan to consider organizing cruises along the Caspian coast,” said Dauren Abayev, Kazakh Minister of Culture and Sports.
“In recent years, tourism has been developed very actively. Before our President’s reforms, the share of tourism did not even reach one percent of the country’s GDP. In the pre-pandemic year, this figure rose to almost four percent, or 3.9 percent to be exact. Obviously, Uzbekistan’s economy itself was growing even during the pandemic. However, we all know that the tourism sector was in crisis,” added Aziz Abdukhakimov, Uzbek Deputy Prime Minister.
Translation by Assem Zhanmukhanova
Editing by Saule Mukhamejanova
