TEHRAN - Iran Chamber of Commerce, Industries, Mines and Agriculture (ICCIMA) has expressed readiness to establish a joint transport consortium with Kazakhstan and to launch a regular RO-RO service between the ports of the two countries, an official with the chamber stated.

Behnam Faramarzian, the director of transport and TIR Carnets at ICCIMA, made the announcement in a meeting with a Kazakh trade and transport delegation headed by the country’s Deputy Minister of Trade and Integration Kulbatyrov Nurlan Naizabekovich at the place of ICCIMA in Tehran, the ICCIMA portal reported on Friday.

Speaking in the meeting, Naizabekovich mentioned the Kazakhstan President’s recent visit to Iran and said: “One of Kazakhstan’s main goals in the region is to develop transit cooperation with Iran.”

Referring to the targeting of three billion dollars of annual trade by the two countries’ governments, the deputy minister said: “Although the capacity of Iran’s export to Kazakhstan is very high, a small number of Iranian commodities enter Kazakhstan; However, those goods have had positive feedback among Kazakh consumers.”

Emphasizing that the main purpose of the Kazakh delegation's trip to Iran is to examine Iran's business facilities and capacities and to identify challenges in the way of developing mutual trade in order to find suitable solutions for them, Naizabekovich added: "Iran is an important country for Kazakhstan and we are determined to develop business relations between the two countries."

Further in the meeting, Alireza Yavari, ICCIMA deputy head for international affairs, stated that Kazakhstan is one of Iran's priorities for the development of trade in the region.

He emphasized close relations between the two countries and said: “After the visit of Kazakh officials to Iran last month, the Islamic Republic has agreed to provide transport facilities to Kazakhstan in the southern ports of Iran, including Shahid Rajaei port so that this country can use this capacity to develop its exports to Far East countries.”

“Such agreements will definitely lead to the development of the two countries' trade relations,” Yavari added.

Earlier this month, Iran and Kazakhstan inked a memorandum of understanding (MOU) on the expansion of cooperation in the agriculture and trade fields as well as industries, logistics, transportation and technology transfer in Tehran.

The MOU was signed on November 2 by Javad Sadati-Nejad, the Iranian agriculture minister, and Zhumangarin Serik, the deputy prime minister and minister of trade and integration of Kazakhstan, who visited Tehran on top of a Kazakh delegation.

As reported, the effort of the two countries in order to increase the value of bilateral trade to about one billion dollars, based on the agreements of the presidents of the two countries, was considered in the MOU.

In the MOU, there was also an agreement on the establishment of a joint trading company for agricultural products and the implementation of joint agricultural projects, and also holding related exhibitions by Kazakh companies in Tehran in the first month of the next Iranian calendar year (starts on March 21, 2023), coinciding with the visit of the prime minister of Kazakhstan to Tehran.

During a meeting between Kazakhstan Prime Minister Alikhan Ashanuly Smaiylov and Iran's First Vice President Mohammad Mokhber on the sidelines of the Second Caspian Economic Forum in Moscow on October 6, the Kazakh side emphasized the importance of improving the level of cooperation between Tehran and Astana in the oil swap, as well as industry, agriculture, scientific and cultural sectors.

Mokhber, for his part, said that the level of trade between Iran and Kazakhstan can quickly reach three billion dollars, considering the existing capacities of the two countries.

The Kazakh prime minister welcomed the proposal of Iran’s first vice president and stated that the necessary fields and capacities of the two countries are ready to raise the level of trade exchanges between Iran and Kazakhstan and reach three billion dollars a year.

Mokhber then announced Iran's readiness to send mining companies to Kazakhstan and added: “Tehran is ready to cooperate with Astana in port, dam construction, hydropower plant construction, knowledge-based and technical and engineering services.”

EF/MA