Iranian minister highlights role of Shahid Rajaee port in
boosting Kazakhstan trade with South

The Iranian Agriculture Minister said the country’s Shahid
Rajaee port in the Persian Gulf coastal city of Bandar Abbas can play a key
role in the expansion of Kazakhstan’s trade ties with southern countries.

Addressing the 18th Iran-Kazakhstan Joint Economic
Commission meeting in Astana on Thursday, Javad Sadatinejad described
establishment of harbors at Shahid Rajaee port, Iran’s biggest container port
at the mouth of Strait of Hormuz, as an important trade gateway between
Kazakhstan and southern countries.

He added that the International North South Transport
Corridor (INSTC)- a 7,200-km multimode route- could help bring a major boom in
the volume and value of trade exchanges between Iran and other nations.

The INSTC envisages a network of ship, rail, and road routes
for moving freight between Iran, India, Azerbaijan, Russia, Central Asia, and
Europe. 

In a meeting with Kazakhstan's Deputy Prime Minister Serik
Zhumangarin, the Iranian top official praised the level of ties between the two
nations, hoping for the improvement of relations in the fields of economy,
trade and science. 

“The presidents of the two countries set a roadmap last year
and vowed to push the envelope on their
countries' commercial interaction and set a 3-billion-dollar mark for their
annual trade. Yesterday, in a meeting with Kazakhstan agriculture minister, it
was agreed that it is imperative to launch a joint agricultural exchanges
committee by next month and increase the volume of trade between the two
nations by 30 percent,” the minister said. 

Elsewhere in his remarks, Sadatinajed said Iranian firms are
ready to cooperate with their counterparts in the fields of technical and
engineering services, sprinkler irrigation, and water desalination projects and
transfer their knowledge.