TEHRAN - The value of non-oil trade between Iran and Kazakhstan rose 17 percent in the first five months of the current Iranian calendar year (March 20-August 21), as compared to the same period of time in the past year, the Islamic Republic of Iran Customs Administration (IRICA) reported.

The IRICA report put the non-oil trade between the two countries at 264,416 tons worth $119.357 million, with one percent fall in weight, year on year.

Kazakhstan was the 11th top trade partner of Iran among the Islamic Republic’s neighbors in the first five months of the present year.

Head of Iran Chamber of Commerce, Industries, Mines and Agriculture (ICCIMA) has criticized the low volume of trade between Iran and Kazakhstan, underlining the need for the implementation of joint cooperation agreements between the two countries as soon as possible.

“The $300 million trade between Iran and Kazakhstan is not proportional to the facilities and capacities of the two countries, and we should all try to achieve the target of 3 billion dollars of trade set in the joint cooperation agreement,” Samad Hassanzadeh said in a meeting with Kazakhstan Ambassador to Tehran Ontalap Onalbayev in early August.

“Iran Chamber of Commerce is pursuing the faster implementation of the joint cooperation agreement between Iran and Kazakhstan with the aim of increasing the trade relations between the two countries,” the official added.

Referring to the logistics agreement between Iran, Kazakhstan and Russia, Hassanzadeh added: “We should be able to use this opportunity in the field of transportation to promote the trade among the countries in the region.”

The ICCIMA head invited the head of the Kazakhstan Chamber and the businessmen of the country to visit Iran, and said: “Considering Iran's capabilities in the fields of technical and engineering services, the establishment of power plants, the development of petrochemical industries, food, agriculture and livestock industries, construction, Pharmaceuticals and medicine, tourism, handicrafts, information and communication technology and knowledge-based products, we can form good cooperation between the private sectors of the two countries.”

He pointed to the interest of Iranian private sector for investments in Kazakhstan and said: “We expect the Kazakh government to support Iran's private sector more.”

“Considering the solution of banking issues between Iran and Kazakhstan, especially in the fields of agriculture and livestock, there is a very suitable field for joint investments, which should be used,” he emphasized.

Onalbayev for his part pointed to the good political and economic cooperation between the two countries in regional organizations and said: "Good cooperation between the two countries has been established and is being formed in the field of cargo transit and sea, rail and land transportation which should continue.”

About 70 percent of the trade between the two countries last year was related to Iran's exports to Kazakhstan, and it is possible to work in the fields of production and supply of meat and agricultural products, petrochemicals and construction materials, to increase the volume of trade and balance it, the envoy said.

During the 19th Iran-Kazakhstan Joint Economic Committee meeting which was held in Tehran in last December, the two sides stressed the need to increase annual trade exchanges to three billion dollars.

The two countries Joint Economic Committee meeting was co-chaired by former Iranian Agriculture Minister Mohammad-Ali Nikbakht and Kazakhstan Deputy Prime Minister Serik Zhumangarin.

During the intergovernmental meeting, officials and business persons from Iran and Kazakhstan met and discussed various issues of common interest between the two countries including banking, transportation and cargo transit, agriculture, trade and energy.

Speaking to the press after the meeting, Nikbakht said: “This is the second meeting of the two countries' Joint Economic Committee in the current Iranian calendar year (started on March 21, 2023) which shows the two countries’ determination to expand economic ties.”

“Currently, the economic exchange between the two countries is not at a good level; But we have targeted the trade exchange between the two countries to reach three billion dollars,” Nikbakht noted.

Zhumangarin for his part pointed to a meeting with Iranian businessmen and said the two countries of Iran and Kazakhstan have vast capacities to cooperate.

“In the 19th Joint Economic Committee meeting, two issues of transportation logistics and bank settlement were agreed upon,” he added.

The 18th round of Iran-Kazakhstan Joint Economic Committee meeting was held in the Kazakh capital city of Astana on January 24-25, 2023.

MA