Kazakhstan, Iran Enjoy Great Potentials to Boost Bilateral Trade: Deputy Minister

Kazakhstan and Iran enjoy great potentials to expand bilateral trade, said Kazakhstan’s Vice Minister of Trade and Integration Kairat Torebayev on Monday. Speaking in the Joint Business Forum of Iran-Kazakhstan in Tehran, Torebayev said COVID-19 restrictions left a negative effect on trade between the two countries last year, reducing it by 37%. He added but now in the first eight months of the current year, the level of bilateral trade exceeded last year’s total turnover. The trade between the two countries will be facilitated by the operation of the Kazakhstan-Turkmenistan-Iran railway, said Torebayev adding that this railway provides an opportunity to transfer 10 million tons of cargo per year.

The Kazakh deputy minister said a contract was recently signed between Aktau Port and Qazvin Chamber of Commerce for the construction of a commercial and logistics complex in the port city of Kazakhstan. “A wheat trade agreement has been signed between Kazakhstan, Iran and Russia, allowing transit and export of Kazakh wheat to these countries,” he noted. The Joint Business Forum of Iran-Kazakhstan was held in Tehran in the presence of Askhat Orazbay, the Kazakh envoy to Iran, and senior traders from both countries. Supported by the Kazakh Embassy in Iran, the forum was co-organized by QazTrade, a subsidiary of the Trade and Integration Ministry of Kazakhstan, and the Iran Chamber of Commerce, Industries, Mines and Agriculture (ICCIMA). Over 30 Kazakh traders headed by Torebayev as well as 100 Iranian businesspersons took part in the one-day forum. - Iran Daily