ASTANA, Kazakhstan, December 4. Kazakhstan and Iran will create a joint commission on transport cooperation in order to further strengthen cooperation in this area between the two countries, Trend reports.
This was agreed upon during a meeting between Kazakhstan's Vice Minister of Transport Talgat Lastayev and Iran's Ambassador to Kazakhstan Jowkar Ali Akbar.
Work will be done within the framework of the commission to expand the capacity of the North-South corridor.
Meanwhile, in the first quarter of next year, it is planned to sign a roadmap for the synchronous development of the potential of the International North-South Transport Corridor's eastern direction for 2023–2025, which will pass through Kazakhstan, the Russian Federation, Turkmenistan, Iran, and India.
Russia, Iran, and India signed an international agreement on September 12, 2000, to establish the North-South Transport Corridor.
The agreement has been ratified by 13 nations in total (Azerbaijan, Belarus, Bulgaria, Armenia, India, Iran, Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, the Sultanate of Oman, the Russian Federation, Tajikistan, Türkiye, and Ukraine).
In 2022, bilateral trade turnover between Kazakhstan and Iran amounted to $521.4 million, which is 18.3 percent higher than in 2021.
Kazakhstan's exports to Iran during this period amounted to $310 million, and imports from Iran to Kazakhstan amounted to $212 million.
From January through June of this year, trade turnover between the countries amounted to $215.1 million.