Kazakhstan ready to boost agricultural trade with Iran

Prospects for expanding cooperation in the agricultural and transport and logistics sectors were discussed by the Prime Minister of Kazakhstan Alikhan Smailov and Iranian Minister of Agriculture Seyyed Javad Sadati Nejad, DKNews.kz reports. 

The Prime Minister said that in Jan-Nov 2022, trade turnover between the countries increased by more than 20 percent to nearly $ 500 million. At the same time, in order to further increase the volume of mutual trade, Kazakhstan is ready to supply the Iranian market with 75 additional commodity items worth about $ 250 million.

"Particularly promising is seen the increase of turnover in agricultural products, the share of which in mutual trade is almost 80%. Our countries have an opportunity to increase the turnover of agricultural products up to $1 billion" Alikhan Smailov 

In general, according to him, the Government of Kazakhstan is set to work actively to achieve the goal of increasing the total volume of trade up to $3 billion, set by the two countries' leaders.

Alikhan Smailov emphasized that one of the key areas of cooperation is also transport and logistics sphere. In this context, the North-South corridor is of particular importance.

"Adoption of joint measures on building transport capacities of this route, in particular, signing and implementation of the Road Map on elimination of bottlenecks, can significantly increase the volume of cargo transportation in the near future"  Alikhan Smailov 

According to him, the implementation of the road map will make it possible to increase the corridor's traffic capacity up to 10 million tons a year by 2025.

In his turn, Seyyed Javad Sadati Nejad noted the high productivity of the 18th meeting of the Kazakh-Iranian intergovernmental commission held the day before, following which the parties came to many mutually beneficial agreements.

In addition, he highlighted the importance of further development of the railway network and maritime infrastructure to increase trade and freight traffic, as well as stated Iran's readiness to expand the supply of citrus products to Kazakhstan.

The meeting was attended by Deputy Prime Minister and Minister of Trade and Integration Serik Zhumangarin, Minister of Agriculture Yerbol Karashukeyev, heads of other departments, as well as representatives of diplomatic circles and the Iranian Parliament.