Prospects of transportation cooperation between Iran and Kazakhstan

  • 27 November 2022 - 12:51
Prospects of transportation cooperation between Iran and Kazakhstan
Nurlan Kolbatyrov, Vice President of Trade Development of Kazakhstan, said: One of the important goals of the Kazakh government is to use Iran's transit capacity.

According to the news site of the Iran Chamber of Commerce, a joint meeting of the trade and transport delegation of Kazakhstan was held under the chairmanship of the Deputy Minister of Trade Development of this country, with the International Vice President of the Iran Chamber, the Director of Transport and TIR carnet of the Chamber and a group of economic activists in Iran’s transport sector.

In this meeting, Nurlan Kolbatyrov, Vice President of Trade Development of Kazakhstan, referring to the visit of the president of this country to Iran, said: One of the important goals of the Kazakh government is to use Iran’s transit capacity.

Referring to the establishment of a trade perspective of three billion dollars between Iran and Kazakhstan by the high officials of the two countries, he said: Although the export capacity of Iran to Kazakhstan is very high, a small amount of Iranian goods is imported into Kazakhstan. However, the same amount of goods has also had positive feedback among Kazakh consumers.

Emphasizing that the main purpose of this delegation’s trip to Iran is to examine Iran’s business facilities and identify problems and find suitable solutions for them, Kolbatyrov added: “Iran is an important country for Kazakhstan and we are determined to develop common business relations between the two countries.”

In addition, Alireza Yavari, International Vice President of the Iran Chamber, stated that Kazakhstan is one of Iran’s priorities for the development of business cooperation, and emphasized the very close relations between the two countries and said: After the visit of Kazakh officials to Iran last month, Facilities and places in the southern ports of Iran, including Shahid Rajaei port, should be provided to Kazakhstan, so that this country can use this capacity to develop its exports to Far East countries. Such relations will definitely lead to the development of the country’s trade relations.

Behnam Faramarzian, director of international transport and TIR carnet of the Iran Chamber, also said in this meeting that Iran and Kazakhstan are old members of the TIR convention, but despite this, the volume of TIR carnet activities of the two countries in the country is very low. In 2022, out of a total of three thousand and 700 cases of road transport, we had only 119 road transport operations under the TIR license.

He added: “Transportation activities are successful if the interests of the customs office, the transportation company, and the exporter’s interests are met.” Unconventional procedures will not only be costly for us, but also time-consuming and will not be economically justified for the economic enterprises of the two countries.

Referring to Kazakhstan’s significant investments in the northern and middle corridors from east to west, Farmarzian said: But the war between Russia and Ukraine has blocked the activity of the northern corridor. Although Aktau, Kuryk and Turkmenbashi ports are active in the middle corridor, the traffic in Baku port and Samur border is very high. Therefore, this route has also lost its competitive advantage.

He emphasized: Therefore, with these conditions, the southern corridor, which passes through Iran’s borders, can be a very suitable alternative for the export, import and transit of Kazakhstan goods.

The Director of Transportation and CarnetTIR of Iran Chamber said: Iran’s southern ports have the necessary infrastructure and have the necessary facilities for “exports from” and “imports to” Kazakhstan. Considering that Kazakhstan is also focused on target markets such as Iraq, UAE, Pakistan, India, Turkey and Turkmenistan, Iran’s route can have many advantages for both sides in the form of combined transportation.

Farmarzian emphasized: Iran Chamber is fully prepared to establish a transport consortium with the Kazakh side. The Iran Chamber is also ready to launch a regular face-to-face service between the Aktau and Kuryk ports with the northern ports of Iran.

He continued: “Fortunately, we had good agreements with Kazakhstan customs regarding the customs issue, and soon we will make it possible to have road and combined transportation with electronic documents.”

Farmarzian stated that although our drivers do not have a visa problem with Kazakhstan, we want to remove visas for the drivers of the two countries.

Nurlan Kolbatyrov further said: Transit from Iran is very important for Kazakhstan. Because we will have good access to the Middle East, India and Pakistan. As you said, the middle corridor has high traffic and we are looking for alternative corridors. Basically, our goal of this trip is to solve this problem.

Referring to the visit of Kazakh investors to the southern ports of Iran, he continued: In this regard, we are ready to receive the advice of the Iran Chamber and the next joint venture partner. We can also advise Iranian businessmen to enter the Eurasian and Central Asian markets. Kazakhstan can be Iran’s entry point to the regional market.

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