TEHRAN (Iran News) – Ambassador of Kyrgyzstan to Tehran Turdakun Sydykov during his visit to South Khorasan Province met with business activists of the province and discussed ways of cooperation between the two countries especially in the fields of agriculture and mining.
In the meeting with business activists of the South Khorasan Province at Birjand Chamber of Commerce in Birjand, the capital of the province, Kyrgyz Ambassador Mr. Sydykov said that his embassy is working to attract Iranian tourists and traders as Kyrgyzstan has provided special facilities for visas for Iranian traders upon their arrivals and Iranian citizens can get their visas upon arrival at the Bishkek Airport or get the visas online.
He added that in order to ease the travel of citizens and traders of both countries, the Bishkek-Mashhad flight has been launched for two months a year.
He noted that Kyrgyzstan is a small country with 6 million population which is not attractive for foreign investors but it is a member of several regional or international economic organizations which can offer great opportunities to traders.
Sydykov further said that Kyrgyzstan has been a Eurasian Economic Union (EAEU) since 2016 where Russia, Kazakhstan and Armenia with population over 180m are the other members. He added that in this union, transfer of goods, capitals, work force and services are allowed, it means, the produced goods in Kyrgyzstan can be sold in all EAEU countries without paying and tariff.
He then pointed to Kyrgyzstan’s membership in the WTO and said that this helps Kyrgyzstan sell its goods to China with population over 1.5b as its organic agro products get popular year in year.
He then invited all Iranian economic activists and entrepreneurs to set up joint industrial companies in Kyrgyzstan for selling their final products in the EAEU and EU countries. He went on to say that the trend for foreign investors has been eased in Kyrgyzstan as the country has one forex and free market system and its value added tax is less than 12% and it is lower than other EAEU states.
Sydykov also said that Kyrgyzstan government does its best for supporting foreign investments and its law for supporting the investors has been approved by the parliament. He reiterated that this law provides equal condition for foreign and Kyrgyz nationals for trade, and export of capital is allowed. He stressed that currently there is no hurdle in way of trade cooperation between the two countries and urged South Khorasan Province economic activists and officials to share required information with Kyrgyzstan for future cooperation.
He praised the province and said that during his visits to some active production units, he learned that the province has great potentials. He noted that the province is rich in the field of minerals and the province has great potentials for cooperation especially in the fields of processing industries, agriculture, technology, IT, and announced readiness of his country for cooperation.
He then pointed to the 30th anniversary of diplomatic relation between Iran and Kyrgyzstan and said that presidents of both friendly countries exchanged felicitation messages.
Sydykov went on to say that Kyrgyzstan is jointly with Iran to hold a trade complex, exhibition and market for exporting goods of Kyrgyzstan and expressed hope during this event economic activists of both countries would sign agreements for cooperation and investment.
He then invited South Khorasan traders to attend this event next year for reviewing investment opportunities like inaugurating joint production companies.
He also invited Iranian economic activists to attend a conference on investment opportunities in Afghanistan which will be held next week.
He reiterated that Iranian entrepreneurs were the first who entered Kyrgyzstan market and held some exhibitions in this country and some of them are still active successfully in Kyrgyzstan.
He also said that Kyrgyzstan has good potentials in the field of hydro energy as water is one of the cheapest energies and Kyrgyzstan is cooperating with Afghanistan and Pakistan in transfer of electricity.
Meanwhile in the meeting Head of Birjand Chamber of Commerce Mr. Mohsen Ehtesham announced readiness of the province to dispatch a trade delegation to Kyrgyzstan, adding that Iranian traders have had colorful presence in Kyrgyzstan especially in exporting some products like detergents.
