On February 23, 2018, at the Institute of Strategic Studies under the President of Kazakhstan, the Deputy Director Sanat Kushkumbaev and the Secretary for Academic Affairs and Research Kazbek Isayev recieved Botir Tursunov, the Deputy Director of the Institute for Strategic and Interregional Studies under the President of Uzbekistan.  

The discussion covered the current state and prospects of the Kazakh-Uzbek relations as well as the cooperation between institutions during 2017, namely the international conference "Uzbekistan-Kazakhstan: 25 years since the establishment of the diplomatic relations" held in Tashkent. Since 2018 is officially the Year of Uzbekistan in Kazakhstan, the parties concerned express their willingness to strengthen and expand the relationship via holding a series of conferences and launching a bilateral Expert Council.

Prior the Central Asian Summit on March 15, 2018 in Astana, the experts also discussed intra-regional affairs, international security issues, and newly formed regional agenda. In this context, further expert-analytical cooperation is even more relevant to facilitate mutually beneficial bilateral and multilateral cooperation.