Kazakhstan Ready to Increase Its Iran Wheat Exports to $1b
Kazakhstan Ready to Increase Its Iran Wheat Exports to $1b
Kazakhstan Deputy Prime Minister Bakhyt Sultanov says Kazakhstan is ready to increase its wheat exports to Iran to $1b and his country welcomes increasing bilateral trade to $3b.

TEHRAN (Iran News) – Kazakhstan Deputy Prime Minister Bakhyt Sultanov says Kazakhstan is ready to increase its wheat exports to Iran to $1b and his country welcomes increasing bilateral trade to $3b.

Speaking at the Iran-Kazakhstan Joint Trade Forum in Tehran, Sultanov reiterated that Kazakhstan is an important trade partner for Kazakhstan, adding that the bilateral trade between the two countries hit record high in 2019 s their trade volume reached $1b but the figure declined in 2020 due to some different reasons like the pandemic as their trade fell to $238m.

He went on to say that the trade between Iran and Kazakhstan last tear witnessed 85% rise last year, adding that the figure bounced back to $440m from $238m. He reiterated that 99% of Kazakhstan’s exports to Iran were wheat and cereals as wheat exports stood at $150m by itself.

Sultanov then stated that in the first four months of 2022, the trade exchange between the two states has grown by 43% and 70% of Kazakh companies export their products to Iran, adding that both countries can expand their trade and reaching the $3b trade mark is not a far-fetched target.

He reiterated that Kazakhstan is ready to increase its cereal exports to Iran due to recent Ukraine war, reiterating that Kazakhstan can at least increase volume of its trade with Iran to $1b at least in the agro field and cereal exports.

He then pointed to some useful agreements which were signed between the two states in recent months, saying that direct payments of the bills by Kazakhstan is a key step for broadening ties. He added that Kazakhstan can also extend the 14-day trade visas and it can help broadening the ties.

Sultanov also welcomed Iranians’ investment in Oktavo Port of Kazakhstan and said that in the first four months, Kazakhstan has received 499,000 tons of goods via this port which shows 4% drop comparing to the same period last year. He blamed the decline in the capacity of the port for this drop in delivery and expressed hope with attracting investment this port would develop.

He termed a logistic hob in the border areas a solution and exchange of information between business activists of the two countries will help the trade between Iran and Kazakhstan to expand.

Meanwhile in the forum, Head of Iran Chamber of Commerce Mr. Gholam-Hossein Shafei, for his part, pointed to the important position of Kazakhstan as one of the Central Asian countries in Iran’s foreign policy, adding that broadening of ties with Kazakhstan is important for Iran due to great resources and capabilities of the two countries in the fields like oil and gas, shipping in the Caspian Sea, petrochemical, metals, minerals, chemicals, construction materials, medicines and technical and engineering services.

Shafei also called for taking operational actions for increasing trade volume of the two states like easing visa issuance and added that Bandar Abbas-Turkmenistan-Kazakhstan Corridor is an opportunity for provision of required goods of the littoral states of this corridor and it connects Kazakhstan to other CIS, Persian Gulf and Southeast countries and therefore with activation of the corridor will help broadening trade of the countries in this long route.

Shafei went on to say that easing , marine transportation will reduce the final costs of the goods and will accelerate the transportation and therefore it needs port infrastructures of Iran and Kazakhstan to be strengthened and the ground for rail transport is reinforced.

He also blamed problem in money transfer and issuance of visas for traders as the main hurdles in way of developing trade ties between Ira and Kazakhstan and called for resolving them. He then pointed to some fields for cooperation between Iran and Kazakhstan like tourism, Nano and biotechnology, technical and engineering services and exports of industrial goods, reiterating that Iran can help Kazakhstan in construction of infrastructural projects.