In April 2018, an Agreement on Cooperation between the Geographical Society of Uzbekistan and the Kazakhstan National Geographic Society was signed in Tashkent. In May 2018, a group of Kazakhstani researchers organized a major international expedition to the Aral Sea as part of a special project of the Kazakhstan National Geographic Society, visiting the most important centers of historical and cultural tourism in Uzbekistan - Samarkand, Bukhara and Khiva.