Kazakhstan Keen to Boost Transit Role in Russia-Iran Corridor

Kazakhstan is keen to boost its role in the increasing cargo traffic through a transit corridor between Russia and Iran as the country seeks to benefit economically from a change in regional transportation arrangements that have been caused by U.S. sanctions on Russia and Iran. Kazakhstan’s Deputy Prime Minister Serik Zhumangarin said that his country had handled 80,000 tons of cargo through an eastern route of the International North–South Transport Corridor (INSTC) between Russia and Iran in the first nine months of this year.

Zhumangarin said the figure was an eight-fold increase compared to the same period last year.
He announced the figures in a meeting with Russian officials in Almaty. Kazakh President Kassym-Jomart Tokayev and Russian President Vladimir Putin also attended the meeting via video link.
Iran has seen a major increase in traffic via the INSTC as Russia has been shipping large volumes of goods to Asian countries via Iranian ports in the Persian Gulf since February when Moscow came under sanctions by U.S. and allies because of the war in Ukraine.

Tehran and Moscow have sought to deepen their bilateral ties in recent months as they continue to coordinate their efforts to counter foreign sanctions. Zhumangarin called for reducing red tape and improving infrastructure to streamline cargo flows via Kazakhstan on the INSTC. He said shipments from Russia to Iran can either travel via the Caspian Sea or move by railway to the east of it through Kazakhstan and Turkmenistan. - Iran News