Iran-Kazakhstan trade up 17% in 5 months on year

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

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

The head of Iran's Chamber of Commerce, Industries, Mines and Agriculture (ICCIMA) has criticized the low volume of trade between Iran and Kazakhstan, underlining the need to implement 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 to increase 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.”

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. / Mehr