BAKU, Azerbaijan, November 3. Kazakhstan and Iran signed a memorandum on increasing the freight of goods from 1 million to 4 million tons per year, Trend reports citing the Kazakh government.
These agreements were reached during a two-day working visit of the Kazakh delegation led by Deputy Prime Minister- Minister of Trade and Integration of Kazakhstan Serik Zhumangarin to Iran from October 31 through November 1, 2022.
The delegation consisted of representatives of Kazakhstan’s flour, grain and meat unions, state bodies responsible for the development of the agricultural and industrial policy of Kazakhstan, Kazakhstan Temir Zholy (KTZ) National Railway Company, Food corporations and other interested market participants.
The opportunities to enter new markets for Kazakh agricultural and industrial products, the removal of barriers in the current North-South route became key topics of discussion between the Kazakh and Iranian sides.
Zhumangarin noted that traditionally warm and trusting relations have been established between the two countries. A series of high-level meetings held in June, from September through October 2022 gave a serious impetus to the promotion of trade and economic partnership. As a result of the visits of the Heads of state, a number of agreements were reached and instructions were given aimed at intensifying Kazakh-Iranian cooperation.
During his meeting with the Minister of Agriculture of Iran Jihad Kazem Khavazi, he informed about Kazakhstan's initiatives in the agricultural industry.
"Today Kazakhstan is ready to export wheat and barley, confectionery and flour products, meat, vegetable oils and other products. The country is interested in increasing the volume of mutual trade in agro-industrial products and deliveries to new markets for Kazakhstan - Pakistan, India, Southeast Asia, and East Africa, and the experience of Iran in these markets would be very useful for the country's business,” Zhumangarin said.
During his meeting with Minister of Road and Urban Development of Iran Rostam Qasemi, he voiced Kazakhstan's intentions to increase the volume of cargo traffic from 1 million to 4 million tons per year. The participant of the meeting agreed to adopt 2025 the trilateral Roadmap to eliminate infrastructural bottlenecks and develop the potential of the North-South route for 2022-2025.
The parties agreed to work out the following steps for inclusion in the Roadmap:
- the creation of a special visa regime for drivers of freight transport, and participants in international transportation. Additionally, explore the possibility of obtaining similar visa exemptions for business representatives;
- optimization of customs clearance processes in the two countries, including the introduction of a unified tariff, a single transport document and a single information system;
- launch of a pilot project on the transportation of goods by road on the Kazakhstan-Turkmenistan-Iran route with the use of navigation seals following the example of the Kyrgyzstan - Kazakhstan - Russia route;
Moreover, Kazakhstan and Iran agreed to work through the possibilities to create a joint export-import company in order to increase the efficiency of logistics processes and bilateral trade.
The trade turnover between Kazakhstan and Iran increased by 9.3 percent and amounted to $350.2 million from January through August 2022 compared to $320.4 million during the same period of 2021. Meanwhile, the volume of export remained at the same level from January through August 2021 (a decline of 0.1 percent) and amounted to $215.3 million. Trade turnover between Kazakhstan and Iran amounted to $440.9 million in 2021, which is 85.1 percent more than in 2020 ($238.1 million).