Interfax-Kazakhstan news agency
November 11

Every day 30,000 to 35,000 people from Uzbekistan arrive in South Kazakhstan Region SKR and head for local markets to buy consumer goods.

"Before it was half the figure," the head of the SKR customs department, Ulugbek Zhanabayev, told a news conference. He said the flow of "shuttle traders" had increased because many markets were closed in Uzbekistan. Zhanabayev said a "round table", which he described as an "important point", had been held recently to discuss placing state controlling bodies at the customs border with Uzbekistan.

He said the round table had decided to introduce new forms for joint decisions and for inspecting vehicles. Customs officers also drew up a new scheme for interaction between border guards and the police to speed up the procedure for crossing the border.

The customs department said that it had collected 527m tenge over 3.4m dollars worth of customs duties in October 2002, double the figure for October 2001. Customs officers say the increase in customs duties shows that trade turnover between Kazakhstan and Uzbekistan has risen.

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