ALMATY - Kazakh President Nursulatan Nazarbayev said here on Monday that an agreement has been reached with Iran for annual export of two million tons of oil to the oil markets via Iran. Nazarbayev, who was speaking on the sidelines of the Summit of the Economic Cooperation Organization (ECO), said that his country is now busy reconstructing Octav Port around the Caspian Sea which would facilitate export of tens of million tons of oil via Iran annually.

He said that moreover, his country would have the capacity of exporting up to 20 million tons of oil annually via Baku. He underlined that Iran is the shortest, safest and the most economical route for transfer of Kazakh oil to the world markets. Meanwhile, Uzbek president Islam Karimov said in his speech to the ECO Summit that construction and operation of the silk railroad which connect Mashhad, Sarakhs and Tajan in northeastern part of Iran would be one of the greatest achievements of the ECO. Karimov said that railroad would put Central Asia out of the deadlock, connecting it to the Persian Gulf and the Oman Sea free waters.

The railroad was built under huge investment by Iranian government. Part of Karimov's speech focused on President Mohammad Khatami's speech. (IRNA)