Azernews.Az

By Aynur Jafarova

Kazakhstan and Iran are discussing the prospects of trade cooperation within the third meeting of the Kazakh-Iran working group on trade and economic cooperation which kicked off in Kazakh capital Astana on January 9.

Opening the meeting Kairat Torebayev, Director of the International Cooperation Department of Kazakh Economy and Budget Planning Ministry said the issues to be discussed at the meeting are cooperation between Kazakhstan and Iran in the field of industry and the mining industry, agriculture and agribusiness complex, transport and logistics, tourism and culture.

The agenda of the meeting also includes the implementation of agreements reached at the previous meeting of the working group.

Co-chairman from the Kazakh side is Deputy Economy and Budget Planning Minister Timur Zhaksylykov and from Iran - Deputy Minister of Industry, Mines and Commerce for the development of economic relations, chairman of the Trade Promotion Organization Valiolla Afkhami.

The meeting will be resulted with the signing of a protocol of the third meeting of the Kazakh-Iran working group.

The cooperation with Iran is of significant importance for Kazakhstan.

The two countries keen on increasing the trade turnover to $ 5-10 billion. There is a great potential for growth of trade turnover in the fields of food industry, transport sector and the development of transit transports.

Kazakhstan's main exports to Iran are grain and steel, while Iran's exports to Kazakhstan are food products -- fruits, flowers, greens and vegetables. Iran also exports construction materials such as ceramics, tiles, plastics and petrochemical products to Kazakhstan.

The Iranian companies are actively working in Kazakhstan, particularly, in the field of engineering, construction, road sector, agriculture and poultry farming. The parties also work on the joint telecommunication project.