BAKU, Azerbaijan, January 27. Trade turnover between Kazakhstan and Iran increased by 20 percent and reached $500 million in 2022, Alikhan Smailov, the Prime Minister of Kazakhstan, said, during his meeting with Iran’s Minister of Agriculture Seyed Javad Sadatinejad, Trend reports, citing the press service of the Prime Minister.
Smailov added that Kazakhstan is interested in increasing trade turnover with Iran. To achieve this objective, Astana is prepared to supply Tehran with additional 75 commodity items worth around $250 million.
“Increasing the turnover of agricultural products, which already possess a share of 80 percent in bilateral trade, seems particularly promising. Our countries have the opportunity to increase the turnover of agricultural products up to $1 billion,” the prime minister noted.
The Kazakh official also noted that increasing transport cooperation in the framework of the North-South International Transport Corridor is another priority.
“The adoption of joint measures to increase the transport capacity of this route, in particular, the signing and implementation of the Roadmap to eliminate bottlenecks, can significantly increase the volume of cargo transportation in the near future,” Smailov concluded.
Iranian minister agreed that reducing bottlenecks will enable the sides to improve trade volume efficiently.
The North-South corridor is a 7,200-kilometer route for moving freight between India, Iran, Azerbaijan, Russia, Central Asia, and Europe. The primary objective is The primary objective of the project is to reduce costs in terms of time and money over the traditional route currently being used.