The Central Communications Service of Kazakhstan reported that on November 3, Serik Zhumangarin, the deputy prime minister and minister of trade and integration of Kazakhstan, signed a memorandum of cooperation in the areas of trade, transportation, and logistics that included increasing cargo traffic with Iran from one to four million tons annually, The Astana Times reported.
Zhumangarin visited Iran on official business and met with Rostam Ghasemi, the country’s minister of roads and urban development, to talk about boosting freight traffic. In order to accomplish this, the parties decided to adopt a trilateral plan by the end of the year in order to remove infrastructure bottlenecks and maximize the potential of the International North-South Transport Corridor for 2022–2025.
A unified tariff, transport document, and information system should be implemented, and a pilot project for the transportation of goods by road using navigation should be started along the route Kazakhstan-Turkmenistan-Iran. They also agreed that the roadmap should include provisions for the creation of a special visa system for freight transport drivers as well as other parts in the process of international transportation.
The parties will also discuss the idea of establishing a combined export-import company as well as a specific visa policy for business representatives.
Zhumangarin spoke with Iranian Minister of Agriculture Javad Sadatinejad about the chances for Kazakh agricultural and industrial products to enter new markets as well as the removal of obstacles in the International North-South Transport Corridor.
According to Zhumangarin, Kazakhstan is prepared to export a variety of goods, including wheat, barley, flour products, confectionery, meat, and vegetable oils. Kazakhstan is also interested in expanding its bilateral trade in agro-industrial goods with Iran by up to $1 billion and expanding its exports to Pakistan, India, Southeast Asia, and East Africa, all of which are new markets for Kazakhstan. He added that the business will benefit greatly from the trading expertise of his Iranian colleagues in these areas.
