Kazakhstan and Uzbekistan have talks over shared national border

Kazakhstan and Uzbekistan have had talks over the shared national border, Tengrinews.kz reports, citing the Kazakhstan’s Foreign Ministry spokesman Ilyas Omarov. “Almaty hosted another sitting of governmental delegations of the two nations on demarcation of the national border. The delegations drafted final documents regulating demarcation of the border”, Ilyas Omarov told, adding that “the talks were held in affable atmosphere”. He also informed that Kazakhstan hadn’t received any answer to the diplomatic note sent to Uzbekistan in which Kazakhstan asked for reasons why Kazakhstan’s tourists had been detained in Uzbekistan for over a fortnight without due notification of the Kazakh side. July 14 at 14:30 a group of Kazakhstan’s tourists comprising 9 teens and 3 adults were taken under custody by the Uzbek border control officers nearby Ugam mountain range in Uzbekistan. The tourists might have wandered off the trail and stepped on the Uzbek soil. The group failed to get back home by July 20 as was originally planned. July 25 the Uzbek officials denied detaining any Kazakh tourists. However, later the Kazakh side learnt that the group had been taken into custody July 14. The tourists faced charges of illegally crossing the border. Now all the tourists are back home. Border-related issues had been considered by the Kazakhstan’s Parliament during the latest session. Alarmed by the situation round the tourists’ detention, the Parliament urged the two governments to negotiate.