Azernews.Az

By Aynur Jafarova

Kazakh President Nursultan Nazarbayev and his Iranian counterpart Hassan Rouhani, who was on an official visit to Astana on September 9, discussed cooperation of the two countries in the agriculture and transport sectors.

The sides discussed the main ways and mechanisms for further development and strengthening of the Kazakh-Iranian cooperation.

Cooperation in economy, energy, infrastructure development, agriculture, as well as transport and transit sectors were among the discussed issues.

During the meeting Nazarbayev said the relations between the two countries have always developed steadily. Currently, the cooperation has great potential for further development.

Nazarbayev also noted Kazakhstan considers Iran as one of important partners in the world and in the Caspian region. He also expressed confidence that Iran's nuclear issue will be resolved, which will contribute to the economic development of this country.

He went on to add that a Kazakh-Iranian trading house is planned to be opened in Kazakhstan.

"I offer to open the Kazakh-Iranian trading house to expand bilateral cooperation," he said.

Rouhani, for his part, said his country attaches great importance to the development of the relations with neighboring Kazakhstan.

The president also spoke about Iran's intention to develop and expand cooperation with Kazakhstan.

"Our senior delegation's visit to Astana, the presence of representatives of Iran's private business in Kazakhstan these days testifies to Iran's will to develop the relations with Kazakhstan in all areas," he said.

Later, speaking at a joint press conference Nazarbayev revealed the date of commissioning of the Kazakhstan-Turkmenistan-Iran railway.

He said the railway will be put into operation in November 2014.

"Commissioning of the Kazakhstan Turkmenistan-Iran railway opens up the possibility for handling of 10 million metric tons of cargo," the president noted. "Through this way, Iran has the ability to enter the Russian and Chinese markets and our country, in turn, to all of the Gulf States. This main line, which is scheduled to open in early November of this year, will have a positive impact on the bringing of bilateral and regional trade and economic cooperation to a new level."

Nazarbayev also noted Iran will be able to take advantage of the Western Europe - Western China transport corridor, which will allow the country to reach Chinese and Russian markets through Kazakhstan.

Touching on the trade turnover between the two countries, Nazarbayev said this figure could increase 5 times.

"Iranian businessmen are invited to participate in the Kazakh projects in agricultural fields. Their side already showed great interest. Another important issue is the development of transport and transit sector. With the commissioning of the Kazakhstan-Turkmenistan-Iran railway, exports of wheat of our country increase 5 times," Nazarbayev said.

New documents inked

The Iranian president's bilateral meeting with his Kazakh counterpart was followed by a joint Kazakh-Iranian business forum. After discussing the bilateral economic relations between the two countries, the statistics agencies signed a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU), aimed at developing the cooperation between the statistics agencies of Iran and Kazakhstan.

The sides agreed to cooperate in the exchange of information on quality statistics governance, analysis and data privacy, the use of information - communication technologies in the census and surveys, economic indices, statistics standards and administrative data (registers).

The two countries also signed several other MoUs on cooperation in different fields, including international transportation and trade, industrial and economic relations.

The foreign ministries signed a five-year cooperation agreement as well.

In 2013, trade turnover between the two countries amounted to $700 million.

The two countries are interested in 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 routes.

Kazakhstan's main exports to Iran are grains and steel products, 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.

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