Kazakh Prime Minister Olzhas Bektenov signed a series of key cooperation documents during an official visit to Kyrgyzstan, including agreements on sister-region ties, the website infohub.kz reports.
During the visit, the head of Kazakhstan's government took part in the second Kazakhstan-Kyrgyzstan Interregional Cooperation Forum, titled "The Role of Regions in Developing Strategic Partnership."
"Kyrgyzstan is one of Kazakhstan's important trading partners. At the end of 2025, bilateral trade grew by 33% to reach $2.4 billion. Since the start of 2026, the figure has risen by a further 20% compared with the same period last year," the government said in a statement.
Kazakhstan and Kyrgyzstan have broad opportunities to develop joint routes in mountain, eco, beach and business tourism, the statement noted. In the first nine months of 2026, mutual tourist flows exceeded 4 million people.
"The parties confirmed their interest in further expanding direct ties between regions and in developing joint production, trade, transport infrastructure and tourism. Implementation of the planned initiatives will help strengthen the Kazakh-Kyrgyz strategic partnership and the sustainable economic development of the region," the government said.
The forum concluded with the signing of documents aimed at expanding interregional cooperation and business ties. In particular, an agreement was signed on developing sister-city ties between Almaty and Bishkek for 2026-2030.
Sister-region relations were also established between Turkestan and the city of Manas, and between the Shchuchinsk-Burabay resort area and the Issyk-Kul lake resort area.
A number of agreements are aimed at expanding cooperation with Kyrgyzstan's Issyk-Kul, Jalal-Abad and Naryn regions. A series of commercial documents was also signed in the areas of trade, exports and promoting Kazakh products on the Kyrgyz market.