Tashkent, Uzbekistan (UzDaily.com) —  The national payment system of Kyrgyzstan, "Elkart," is preparing for integration with Uzbekistan's payment system UzCard. This was reported by the Azerbaijani publication Trend, citing the press service of Elkart.

On 24 October, representatives from both organizations signed a memorandum of cooperation aimed at creating a unified payment ecosystem between the two countries. The project will be implemented in several phases.

The first phase will involve enabling transfers between cards from the two systems. Subsequently, ground-based acquiring will be introduced, allowing cash withdrawals from ATMs and payments using one system's cards in POS terminals of the other system.

The project will utilize advanced technologies to ensure minimal transaction processing time and instant transfers. Special attention will be paid to user data security, protection against unauthorized access, and fraud prevention.

Representatives of Elkart expressed confidence that the ability to make cross-border payments with cards will contribute to the development of financial infrastructure in both Kyrgyzstan and Uzbekistan. This, in turn, is expected to stimulate growth in mutual trade, tourism, and economic cooperation between the two countries.