Iran, Kazakhstan Trade Grows 29%
TEHRAN – Spokesman for the
Islamic Republic of Iran Customs Administration (IRICA) Seyyed Rouhollah Latifi said on Monday that trade volume exchanged between Iran and Kazakhstan in past Iranian calendar year in 1400 (ended March 20, 2022) registered a 29 percent hike.
Some 729,000 tons of non-oil goods, valued at $265.2 million, were exchanged between Iran and Kazakhstan last year, showing a 71 and 29 percent growth in weight and value, respectively as compared to the last year’s corresponding period, Latifi stated.
Of total 729,000 tons of products exchanged between the two countries, more than 512,000 tons of which, valued at $187.2 million, related to Iran’s exports to Kazakhstan, showing a 51 and 11 percent increase in weight and value respectively as compared to the same period of last year, he noted.
Turning to Iran’s import of products from Kazakhstan, Latifi said that 217,000 tons of products, valued at $78 million, were imported into the country from Kazakhstan, recording a 141 and 108 percent growth in weight and value respectively.
He went on to say that more than 15.4 million tons of products, valued at $6 billion, were exchanged between Iran and Kazakhstan over the past 20 years.
Agricultural, livestock and food products, construction materials, home appliances, oil derivatives, electronic tools, industrial equipment and machinery, clothing, footwear, minerals and agricultural equipment and machinery, etc. were the main products exported from Iran to Kazakhstan last year, IRICA spokesman added.
Iran, Kazakhstan Launch
Major Rail Transit Link
Iran and Kazakhstan have officially launched a rail transit link that will boost cargo transportation between Asia and Europe.
On Sunday, Iranian President Ebrahim Raisi used a video conference link to order the transit of a consignment from Kazakhstan through the Iranian railway system to Turkey.
The cargo that contains 48 containers had arrived in the Iranian capital Tehran on Sunday. It started its journey from Aktau on June 15 and will unload in Turkey, according to reports in the Iranian media.
Kazakh President Kassym-Jomart Tokayev attended the ceremony to launch the project, which is known as Kazakhstan-Turkmenistan-Iran (KTI) transit corridor.
Authorities said transit arrangements through the 6,300-kilometer corridor will become permanent after a series of pilot operations.
Raisi and Tokayev also oversaw the signing of a document by railway chiefs of Iran and Kazakhstan that will commit them to cooperating on the transit of up to 5 million metric tons of cargo through the KTI per year.
Raisi called the KTI a major trade route and said that the launch of the corridor will expedite the East-West transit of cargo between Asia and Europe.
“With an easing of coronavirrus restrictions and more activity in the international haulage business this corridor has become significant especially for the Asian and European countries,” said the Iranian president.
Tokayev said the launch of the KTI corridor has been a result of close cooperation between Iran and Kazakhstan in recent months.
He expressed hope the two countries would stick to their commitments about the project and allow it to evolve in future.