Iran, Kazakhstan boost trade relations with new railway network

Iran and Kazakhstan are persevering with to develop their financial ties. 

Kazakh President Kassym-Jomart Tokayev visited Tehran yesterday the place he met with Supreme Chief Ayatollah Ali Khameini and President Ebrahim Raisi. Through the go to, Raisi and Tokayev inaugurated a railway community operating from Kazakhstan to Iran and onto Turkey. The aim of the railway is to facilitate Kazakhstan’s exports to Europe, and a Kazakh freighter left Tehran for Turkey yesterday to this finish, the official Islamic Republic Information Company reported. 

The state-owned Nationwide Iranian Oil Firm and its Kazakh counterpart KazMunayGas additionally signed a cooperation settlement. Officers signed further offers on cooperation associated to science, transportation, cultural exchanges, commerce and agriculture in the course of the Raisi-Tokayev summit, in accordance with the company. 

Why it issues: Iran has had good relations with Kazakhstan for the reason that Central Asian nation gained independence from the Soviet Union. Kazakhstan has particularly assisted Iran through oil swap agreements, which have helped the Islamic Republic circumvent sanctions, Giorgio Cafiero wrote for TRT World in January. 

Iranian officers didn’t criticize the Kazakh authorities in the course of the unrest there in January, as an alternative calling for calm. 

Iran has been eyeing elevated commerce with Kazakhstan lately. Kazakh Commerce Minister Bakhyt Sultanov visited Tehran in February to debate commerce with Iranian Vice President Mohammad Reza Mokhber Dezfouli. In April, a Kazakh consular official endorsed Kazakh firms doing extra enterprise in Iran’s Bandar Abbas port. 

Iran’s exports to Kazakhstan have elevated on common 5.07% annually since 1997, whereas Kazakh exports to Iran have elevated 1.6% yearly in that time-frame. The primary Iranian exports to Kazakhstan are fruits and nuts. The primary Kazakh exports to Iran are barley and wheat, in accordance with the US-based Observatory of Financial Complexity. 

Know extra: The railway community with Kazakhstan might assist Iran promote the Worldwide North-South Transport Hall commerce route in Russia, Iran and India. The nations need the hall to rival the Suez Canal in Egypt. Relatedly, Iran opened a commerce middle in Russia final week to spice up the hall. 

Iran’s commerce with a number of Central Asian nations elevated in 2021, together with Turkmenistan.