Uzbekistan and Kazakhstan aim to launch a program dubbed Silk Visa, which will allow foreigners with visas issued by either of the two countries to travel in both Central Asian republics, an Uzbek official says.

Acting First Deputy Chairman of the Uzbek State Committee for Tourism, Ulugbek Qosimhojaev, told reporters in Tashkent on December 20 that the goal of the program is to boost tourism in the region.

Qosimhojaev also said that two other Central Asian nations, Tajikistan and Kyrgyzstan, had expressed interest in joining the program in future.

Kazakhstan said earlier that it was working to attract Azerbaijan and Turkey to join the Silk Visa program, which is intended to ultimately function along the same lines as the Schengen visa system in Europe.

Kazakhstan and Uzbekistan are the region's leading economies.

Based on reporting Kazinform and gazeta.uz