Baku, Azerbaijan, Feb. 12
By Rashid Shirinov – Trend:
The agriculture ministries of Kazakhstan, Russia and Iran have signed a memorandum of understanding on cooperation in wheat trade, Trend reports via Kazakh media.
The memorandum was signed by Deputy Agriculture Minister of Kazakhstan Gulmira Isayeva, Deputy Agriculture Minister of Iran Ali Akbar Mehrfard and Deputy Agriculture Minister of Russia Sergey Levin.
Minister of Trade of the Eurasian Economic Commission Veronika Nikishina was also present at the event.
Isayeva noted that the memorandum is an integral part of the free trade zone agreement signed last year between the EEU member states and Iran.
"The supply of Kazakh wheat can reach from 500,000 to one million tons during a year. Last year was very successful for Kazakhstan, the country exported 11.7 million tons of grain. The task is to further expand the sales market. Therefore, the Iranian market is very interesting for us," she said.
It should be noted that Iran itself meets its domestic demand for wheat, but the country is interested in importing Kazakh and Russian wheat for further processing and export to the neighboring countries. This market accounts for more than 70 percent of global flour consumption.
"I think that the signing of the memorandum will lead to more dynamic development of relations and growth of trade turnover between our countries. We will continue to reinforce and strengthen logistics and industrial cooperation," said Deputy Agriculture Minister of Iran Ali Akbar Mehrfard.
According to the signed memorandum, Iran will facilitate the freedom of transit of Kazakh and Russian wheat through its territory, will support the import of wheat under swap contracts, including on issues of exempting from bans and other restrictions of Kazakh and Russian wheat temporarily imported into Iran for further processing and export.
---
Follow the author on Twitter: @ShirinovRashid