Iran, Kazakhstan could boost annual trade to $5b: minister

Iran and Kazakhstan have great potential to boost their annual bilateral trade to $5 billion, Iranian Finance and Economic Affairs Minister Ali Tayyebnia stated.

Unfortunately, the value of trade Iran and Kazakhstan is low despite high level of political relations between the two countries, the Mehr News Agency reported on Sunday.

Tayyebnia made the remarks in a meeting with Kazakh Prime Minister Karim Massimov on the sidelines of the 4th ECO Ministerial Meeting on Finance and Economy, which was held on May 22-23 in Astana.

Kazakhstan was the 18th biggest trading partner of Iran in the past Iranian calendar year, which ended on March 20, 2014, according to the Iranian Customs Administration.

The annual trade between Iran and Kazakhstan amounted to $293.4 million in the previous year. Kazakhstan exported $209.6 million worth of goods to Iran and imported $83.8 million worth of goods from the country in Iranian year 1392 (March 2013-March 2014).

On May 21, Iranian President Hassan Rouhani said that Tehran and Astana should improve cooperation in the Caspian Sea in important sectors including trade, shipping, protection of the environment and expansion of tourism, Press TV reported.