Kazakhstan in talks to set up joint venture, ship
agricultural exports via Iran

Kazakhstan is in talks with Abu Dhabi Ports to set up a
joint venture that would help ship Kazakh agricultural exports via Iran and
then Persian Gulf ports, the Central Asian nation's government said on Monday.

Kazakhstan, a significant exporter of agricultural
commodities such as grains and oilseeds, wants to ship cargoes to Iran via the
Caspian Sea and have them delivered to Iranian Persian Gulf ports such as
Amirabad and Bandar Abbas and then further to other destinations in the Persian
Gulf, Asia and Africa, it said.

Kazakh Deputy Prime Minister Serik Zhumangarin discussed the
project with Davood Tafti, the chief executive of Simatech Shipping and
Forwarding, which the Kazakh government said was a subsidiary of AD Ports
Group.

Landlocked Kazakhstan has traditionally exported its grains
and oilseeds mostly to neighboring Central Asian countries and China, and also
shipped some to Black Sea ports via Russia.